Going to the other side
by Karristan
Summary: On bad days bad things tend to pile up. But what if one of the things involves someone you don't like being around? A bad storm forced two girls that don't get along to walk home together. Some things are revealed that perhaps shouldn't be revealed and friendship blossoms in the midst. Emotions are ignored and feelings hurt. What becomes of a friendship that sits on a rough past?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

** 1 Caught in a storm**

Tatsuki sat in the classroom as her eyelids fought to stay open. The day's lessons were almost over and the week was already half done now but there were another two days of school before the weekend. Though she had no plans for those two days other then her karate practice but that only covered Saturday morning and there were no upcoming tests to study for nor was there any hint of an assignment to occupy her time.

There were no problems to concern her as everything was how it should be though it seemed a little bit too quiet lately. She shifted her gaze from the front of the room off to the side as she glanced at Orihime. A slight smile formed on her face as she considered making plans with her for the weekend but then a bit of shifting caught her eye in a desk a few rows past Orihime and she found Chizuru.

A slight anger filled her at the sight of her. The two of them didn't get along and everyone knew that. Not a lot of people really got along with Chizuru all that much though everyone put up with her most of the time. There were a couple of people that she got along with but Tatsuki wasn't one of them. The two of them got along the least out of anyone else in the school. Chizuru was always after her best friend in an almost perverted fit.

But today she had been a little different. Chizuru had been pretty quiet the whole day. It was strange and she was most likely planning another attempt at getting close to Orihime. There was no way Tatsuki would let it happen however. She would keep Orihime far away from Chizuru no matter what happened. The two of them could be friends but she would never let it be any more then that but at the same time she was hesitant for it to be any less then a friendship since Orihime was one of the only people that didn't judge her for how she was. Everyone else had judged her badly on the first day of school.

Tatsuki carefully eyed Chizuru from the corner of her eye though she was careful to make it seem like her attention was still at the front of the classroom. She was definitely planning something and it definitely had something, if not all, to do with Orihime. Tatsuki knew immediately that she would have to keep an eye on Chizuru to make sure she didn't try anything stupid even if her plan didn't involve Orihime it definitely would involve some girl that had caught her eye.

As the bell rang she started packing up as everyone else did the same. Orihime skipped over to her almost immediately with a bright smile and all her stuff ready to go. Her smile faded a little as she said, "Tatsuki, do you mind if I go on ahead without you today? There are things I need to do."

"Yeah, that's fine." Tatsuki said a little taken aback.

"I'll make it up to you alright?" Orihime said.

"It's fine, Orihime." Tatsuki said as she slowly began to recall that she had classroom duty today, which was why Orihime was going home before her.

"I'll still make it up to you." Orihime said with a slight pout. "See you tomorrow, Tatsuki."

Orihime left the room quickly as Tatsuki finished packing up her things. She made a quick glance up at the side of the board to see who else was on duty. She let out a sigh as she found Keigo's name there next to hers. Here was another person she wasn't to fond of being around too much. She didn't mind him but he got annoying fast. At least he wasn't as much of a pervert as Chizuru was all the time but he still got there sometimes but at least not towards Orihime. He was mostly just a goof then anything else.

Tatsuki finished packing up her stuff as the last of the students left the room. She left her book bag on her desk and went to the front of the class where Keigo was already wiping the board. He glanced over and threw a chalkboard eraser at her with a smirk as he clearly wanted to catch her off guard. His amusement died down as she caught it and began wiping one of the boards clean.

"Is there anything new and interesting in your life?" He asked casually trying to start a conversation.

"Nope," Tatsuki answered. "How about yours?"

"Nothing, this is the highlight of my day so far." He said with a bit of a laugh. "Today may have been a bit more fun if you picked a fight again."

"I don't start fights." Tatsuki said.

"Oh come on, you beat on Chizuru daily." He said.

"I don't start that." Tatsuki defended.

"You're the only one using violence." He said. "I mean sure the things Chizuru does aren't decent behavior but that doesn't mean you should hit her all the time for it."

"She brings it upon herself." Tatsuki justified. "Why are you defending her?"

"I'm not, I'm just saying if you don't want people to think that you have a thing for her you should lighten up a bit." Keigo said.

"I do _not _have a thing for Chizuru. I'm not even like that." Tatsuki said angrily.

"That's not what your actions towards her say." He laughed as he finished cleaning the board. "I know you're not into that sort of thing but even still it looks like it to someone that doesn't know you."

Keigo leaned back on the teacher's desk and watched Tatsuki as he glared at him in anger. She had stopped cleaning the board as soon as he suggested she had feelings for Chizuru but her anger flared the moment he had started to defend her. It was even worse now that there was some outrageous speculation about her and Chizuru. It was nothing but nonsense and she knew that but this was high school and everyone talked about rumors as if they were true no matter how unbelievable and wrong they were.

"The only reason I hit her is because she's always all over Orihime." Tatsuki said. "I don't see how people are getting the wrong idea about it."

"Well, they think you're jealous of how she only gives Orihime attention and since you're a tomboy and guys sometimes show affection by abuse when they're uncomfortable with their feelings." Keigo summarized. "If you think about it like that it's almost a given why so many people believe it. If I didn't see how abusive you were towards her well, no that just makes it worse. Scratch that."

"What do you mean it makes it worse?" Tatsuki snapped.

"Well the more abusive you are the more you like her." He said with a shrug. "Look these rumors aren't very new but if you want them to be less believable then slowly lighten up on her. If you just stop then people are going to approach you about it."

Tatsuki remained silent for awhile before asking, "How long have these rumors been going around?"

"Geez, when does anyone know when or where these things even start?" Keigo asked. "Look when it started doesn't matter. Just show that it's not true without announcing that you know about it and by this time next week there will be other rumors that people will focus on and the stuff going on around you will be forgotten a week after the new rumors spread around."

"Man, and here I thought you were just a goof." Tatsuki said with a slight laugh.

"Is that the thanks I get for trying to look out for you a bit?" Keigo asked as if completely offended.

"My bad," Tatsuki said with another laugh. "Thanks for pointing this out to me, though."

"No problem," He said as if he was completely praised for it.

Tatsuki silently went back to cleaning the board while Keigo remained by the desk as he watched her in silence. She glanced over at him now a little nervous about these rumors, "What's up?"

"I'm just a little curious about these rumors that's all." He replied. "I'm a little surprised about them to be honest. More that it's about you and Chizuru hooking up and not you and Orihime, to be honest there's more of a setup for you two and not Chizuru."

Tatsuki went completely pale at this new assumption, "Why would you think of me and Orihime getting together? Neither of us is even like that."

"Well you have the whole 'tsundere' thing going on with Orihime." Keigo said simply. "If you really think about it the two of you are always together and it's rare to see you two apart. You know how these things go though, it's only a matter of time before someone gets bored and makes the connections and talks about it to someone else."

"So this is going to be the next set of rumors then?" Tatsuki asked nervously. She didn't want to be put in this spot. If there were any other rumors of her liking another girl that will probably be it for her reputation and everyone will believe that she's like that. "Don't tell me you're going to spread that one."

"No, when these rumors die down I'll spread something about Uryu or something for you." He said with a smirk.

Tatsuki was taken aback a little that he would do that for her without being asked or bribed. She eyed him curiously about where this would eventually lead. As she waited for him to either inform her about anything else going around or what he might want from this she finished cleaning the board. Nothing was said even as she finished but Keigo continued to watch her and it gave her the creeps. There was a good chance that she knew what he was thinking about right now and decided to crush it.

"I'm _not_ like that and I _don't_ have a thing for Chizuru or Orihime so don't bother asking about it." She said glaring over at him once more.

"I figured as much." He said simply with a slight smirk. "I already told you I didn't believe any of the rumors going around, right?"

"Yeah," Tatsuki said a little distantly. "What were you thinking about then?"

"I was wondering about what I should start about Uryu or if I should say something about someone else. You know, considering…" He trailed off.

"Yeah," Tatsuki said. "He's not the type of person to do anything but what's there to say about him? Everyone kind of avoids him anyways. Maybe you shouldn't even start a rumor about anyone."

Keigo just shrugged, "Everyone knows that rumors without a base are fake but it would be enough to avert their attention enough away from you to avoid break up rumors."

Tatsuki let out a sigh at how much he had thought this through. She looked at him curiously for a moment as he looked at her blankly as if he was trying to figure out what she was thinking now. Now it was his turn to question her, "What?"

"How long have you been planning all this?" She asked him.

"I'm not planning anything." He said. "I have an older sister so I know how to go about these things with ease."

"She gave you advice?" Tatsuki asked. "Sounds nice."

"She didn't give me crap other then a dark smirk during the entrance ceremony." Keigo said. "I'm just not doing what she did. My sister was loud enough on the phone for me to learn from it."

Tatsuki laughed a little, "It must be nice to have a sibling sometimes. Even if you don't ever get along you still learn from each other. Sometimes I wish I had that. To be honest it's one of the reasons that I'm so close to Orihime. She's pretty much a sister to me and that's why we're so close. Being the same age has its advantages and its disadvantages though."

"Yeah, I can imagine. There are no real pep talks from experience or any form of education. Even just being in the same class makes some conversations pointless to have since you already know what's going on." Keigo said. "I'm kind of glad that I'm not the oldest. I don't have to be completely focused or reliable and I can slack off a little and take things easy while learning from my sister's mistakes. I've got it pretty good sometimes."

"Only sometimes?" Tatsuki asked curiously.

"My sister is a psycho." He said as his face paled dramatically. "Sometimes I swear she really wants to kill me."

Tatsuki gave him an odd and doubtful look before shrugging and going back to her desk to retrieve her things so she could go home. But as she got there she glanced out the window and found a few really dark storm clouds hovering over the town. She got a slight chill and glanced over at Keigo and said, "It looks like we're going to get one hell of a storm. We should probably hurry home so we're not caught in it."

"Good thinking." He said as he got off the desk while looking past her. "You might want to run home."

She didn't even bother questioning him as the slight gleam in his eyes said it all. If it rained and her uniform shirt got wet it would become see though and with the darkness of the clouds it wouldn't take long for that to happen. They both hurried out of the classroom and down the halls to get to their shoe lockers before the long but hopefully quick and dry trip home. When they got there Tatsuki glanced out the front doors and found a few drops of rain here and there.

She let out a long sigh, "I am so screwed right now."

Keigo glanced over as well and laughed a little, "Looks like it."

Tatsuki began changing her shoes as Keigo finished putting his indoor shoes away. He walked to the door and glanced out, "So how far do you live anyways?"

"I live near Ichigo's place." Tatsuki said.

"Ouch, you're going to be drenched when you get home." Keigo said.

"That's obvious." Tatsuki said with a hint of aggravation.

"I'll tell you what, my place is just a little out of the way." Keigo said getting an automatic annoyed look. "I'll walk with you until there and you go the rest of the way on your own."

"How about you bite me, Keigo?" Tatsuki asked angrily.

"That's a shame." He said as he pulled an umbrella out of his book bag. "And I was going to lend you my umbrella to save you from getting wet."

"Sorry," She said automatically.

"Now I don't know if I should be a gentlemen when you clearly don't deserve niceties." He said with crossed arms.

"Oh, come on don't be like that, Keigo." Tatsuki pleaded. "Don't just come on like a creep then flaunt niceties like that."

Keigo smiled mischievously, "Who said I was being 'nice'?"

"You did a minute ago." Tatsuki said bluntly.

"Just hurry up or I'll leave without you." He said as his smile grew even more. "But you could always just stay here and wait out the storm. But it doesn't look like the storm will pass anytime soon so you'll be stuck here for a few hours."

She wanted to yell at him but she had a long walk home and no umbrella at all so she quickly put her indoor shoes away and joined him at the door. They lingered for a bit as they tried to calculate when the storm would hit by the raindrops. Though it could start at any minute the rain was just scattered drops and nothing more but the middle of the storm was over the middle of town and halfway through her walk. There were already flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder in the distance.

Keigo let out a bit of a sigh before he opened the door and let Tatsuki step out before leaving as well. They both hesitated at the front doors as they dreaded the coming storm. It was already pretty clear that it was going to be huge. There was a slight sense of fear that ran through Tatsuki as she recalled that Orihime had errands to do and might be outside right now. If it wasn't too much out of the way Tatsuki would try and meet her after she and Keigo parted ways.

She wasted no time in pulling out her cell phone to try and call her to make sure she was alright at least. As she dialed the number she glanced over at Keigo to quickly say, "I just want to make sure Orihime's alright since she had some errands to do."

"Going to go play the hero if she get's caught in the rain?" He asked with a smirk.

She ignored him as the phone rang and with the storm coming in it would be best to hit him later on. But yes, if need be she would go play the hero for Orihime if she got caught in this. The phone continued to ring but there was no answer at all. She hung up as her fear heightened a little while the two began their walk home. The rain hadn't even really started but the umbrella was already open and hovering above them in case of a sudden downpour.

It wasn't long before Tatsuki tried again but as she did Keigo slowed to a stop making her stop as well and give him a questioning look but he was looking past her as he spoke, "Are the rumors proving to be true?"

She gave him an even more questioning look before following his gaze and finding Chizuru sitting on a bench a good distance away and looking almost defeated. She was hunched over as if just hearing the worst of news after everything else had fallen apart around her. Even from their distance they could sense her bad mood. It was as if her posture was correct. She didn't really even seem to notice the rain that had started to fall.

"Do you think something happened to her?" Keigo asked.

"That's a given, she was acting weird all day." Tatsuki said. "I didn't even have to hit her today."

"I thought you only did that when she was acting weird." He replied.

"I do," Tatsuki said with a nod.

"Then you should have hit her today because she was acting weird." Keigo said. "But if it was only today that she was acting weird but not other days then you only hit her when she's being normal and not when she's being weird. So in the end you're contradicting yourself."

Tatsuki looked over at him with a mixed look of anger and confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?"

He just shrugged, "Not to change the subject but I don't want to be standing here when it starts pouring and it's already starting to rain."

Tatsuki looked back at Chizuru and began to feel a little guilty for just leaving her like that even if she didn't like the girl. If it weren't for the storm she wouldn't even care about it. She let out a sigh as her mind was in debate of what to do but before she could even come to a conclusion of any kind Keigo spoke up from beside her, "I'm going to get going and you can do what you want. I'll let you know tomorrow if I made it home without stopping."

She glanced over to find he was stepping out from under the umbrella and handing it to her, "I want this back tomorrow morning alright?"

"Yeah, sure." Tatsuki said baffled by this as he started to walk away. "Are you sure about this?"

"What kind of guy would I be to leave two girls stranded in this storm?" He asked as he looked back with a slight smile. "Consider it a step towards proving the rumors wrong."

He left it at that as he took off leaving her a little stunned that he could be such a gentlemen at times. She smirked slightly as she walked over to Chizuru before his last comment really clicked for her. When people saw her returning an umbrella to him it would look good for her but for him as well as he would be the nice guy to lend a helping hand. Now she couldn't hit him for his earlier comment either since it wouldn't look too good either.

She approached Chizuru silently and didn't say a thing to startle her as she was clearly out of it but that was obvious when they first noticed her sitting there. But even in class she was like this and before that as well. This was starting to become a little concerning for Tatsuki despite how little she actually liked the girl. Her mind wandered more on her reasoning for doing this then anything else.

Tatsuki stood in front of Chizuru while doing her best to cover both of them with the umbrella. Even now Chizuru hadn't noticed her at all so she decided to say something but at the same time avoided expressing any concern for her, "Do you know what color our uniform shirt is?"

Chizuru looked up at her almost shocked as there was a clear flash of fear in her eyes though it faded a little as she tried to keep her cool, "Yeah, why?"

"Do you know what happens when it gets wet?" Tatsuki asked as she raised her eyebrows a bit to keep a cold attitude towards her.

"Is there a point to this or are you just going to stand here and ask stupid questions?" Chizuru asked angrily.

"Here's another stupid question for you, are you aware that it's raining?" Tatsuki asked making Chizuru look around a little shocked. "There's one hell of a storm coming and I'm guessing that you don't have an umbrella with you."

Chizuru was taken aback a little as she avoided looking at Tatsuki, "I didn't think it would rain today."

"Whatever, come on." Tatsuki said. "I'll walk you home."

"I'll be fine." Chizuru said as thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Keigo's getting soaked right now so you don't have to." Tatsuki said. "This is his umbrella. He's running home right now and I'm pretty sure he'd be pissed if he found out I walked home alone."

"Are you guilt tripping me into going?" Chizuru asked.

"No, I'm just stating that I don't want to listen to him whine tomorrow." Tatsuki said as she turned to leave. "Let's go."

Chizuru was hesitant but got up and followed Tatsuki. They left the school grounds in silence but came to a stop at the gate and Tatsuki glanced over at Chizuru, "Where do you live?"

"Just in the Mitsumiya district, it's not too far from here." Chizuru said. "I can probably make it on my own and not get too wet."

There was a flash of lightning followed almost immediately by a loud rumble above them. Tatsuki glanced up at the sky and said, "It's going to start coming down any second now. Do you really want to risk it?"

She let out a slight groan in angered defeat as she led Tatsuki to her home. Tatsuki didn't want to be there just as much as Chizuru didn't want her there. They didn't speak as they let their minds wander on other things but kept enough concentration to pay attention to the other as well as their surroundings. It wasn't long before the rain came crashing down on them and once more Tatsuki got a surge of immense fear for Orihime as she realized she still didn't even know where she was.

Tatsuki wasted no time in pulling out her cell phone once more to try and call Orihime and dialed the number without offering an explanation out of consideration for Chizuru as she still didn't really care about her. This time the call didn't even go through making her stop dead in her tracks in fear. She closed her eyes and did her best to try and find her presence in town and found it was faint but she was at home.

She sighed in relief and turned to continue walking but found Chizuru giving her a strange look, "Are you alright? You just went really pale."

"I'm fine." Tatsuki replied loudly over the thunder. "I just had a really bad feeling."

Chizuru just nodded and they continued on to try and rid themselves of the other as soon as possible though Tatsuki still had a long walk home and this was a major detour for her. She was a little grateful that Keigo had spotted Chizuru though considering the state she was in she would have been caught in the middle of this but in return he had been caught in this. She felt a little bad about it and realized that she should have taken shelter in the school with Chizuru while he went home with his umbrella but she just wanted to go home or maybe to Orihime's since it was closer.

Soon Tatsuki was longing to be in the warmth of Orihime's house and having a fun time discussing a random topic or watching a movie or one of the various things they liked to do. As her thoughts continued she almost forgot about being with another person until a car came down the street pretty quickly. With her mind filled with thoughts of Orihime her mind was telling her that was who she was with so she instinctively placed herself so as the car passed them and splashed water towards them she took it.

But after it happened she realized that she wasn't with Orihime and her face began to pale as she looked over at Chizuru who was in a complete shock at the immediate action. All Tatsuki could say about it was, "If you ever bring that up to anyone I will kill you. I don't even care what the situation is, got it?"

Chizuru offered a faint nod and nothing else as she was still amazed at the action. She wasn't the only one though, Tatsuki was just as amazed that she had done that for Chizuru even though she had been thinking of Orihime to the point that she thought that was who she was with. Now it just left an awkward air around them as they walked in silence while Tatsuki used her free arm to cover her breasts since her shirt was undoubtedly soaked enough to be see through.

After ten minutes Chizuru stopped Tatsuki and motioned her to a house, "This is where I live."

"I'll walk you to the door so you don't get soaked." Tatsuki said since the rain had only gotten worse. She didn't even want to be in this district anymore though. Not after taking the splash of water for Chizuru. She knew that by doing that she had protected someone that she didn't like.

They walked to the door in a continued silence and they stood in complete awkwardness as Chizuru looked for her keys. Tatsuki let out a sigh and looked down the street. She wasn't familiar with this area and would likely have to backtrack to school to get home without getting lost.

As she heard the door unlock she brought her gaze back to Chizuru to say a half-assed farewell so she could leave. Chizuru remained standing on the porch looking a little uncomfortable as she watched Tatsuki, "My place is a bit of a mess but you can come in and wait out the storm if you want."

"No," Tatsuki denied immediately. "I just want to go home."

She turned to leave but Chizuru grabbed her hand to stop her, "Tatsuki the storm's only getting worse and you're soaked."

"It doesn't matter, Chizuru." Tatsuki said. "Even if my clothes were dry right now I'd be soaked by the time I got home anyways. There are plenty of cars and puddles to ensure that."

"Then wait out the storm and I'll lend you some clothes." Chizuru said. "It's the least I can do after you walked me home and the other thing."

She was a little nervous with her last few words as Tatsuki almost glared at her, "It's still a no, Chizuru."

"Then I'll tell everyone at school about it." Chizuru said almost too confidently.

Tatsuki turned to face her properly as her eyes became cold, "If you so much as even hint it you will regret it. Even if you're hinting it towards me you will regret it."

As she spoke her last couple of words there was a flash of lightning followed immediately by thunder to heighten the effect it had on Chizuru. Her face drained of color but she still tried to keep her cool regardless of the threats, "You don't scare me, Tatsuki."

"Well, we're going to have to work on that." She said angrily.

They fell into silence as their eyes argued with the other. After a moment Tatsuki turned to leave without any arguments on either side. Just as she was about to step off the porch a bolt of lightning hit the ground not too far away from them. There was no pause before thunder almost exploded above them. Tatsuki was frozen on the spot with wide eyes. If she had turned to leave just a single moment earlier she would have been struck by lightning.

The was a weak and frightened voice from behind her that was barely even audible but clear all the same, "No more arguing about this, Tatsuki. Come inside."

Tatsuki faintly nodded and was pulled inside the house with ease. Her eyes were wide as she took off her shoes and they were wide still when she was led to the bathroom where she was handed a towel. She absentmindedly dried her hair as Chizuru went to get her some clothing. If her heart wasn't racing so fast she would be curious as to what sort of clothing she would be forced into. She held no trust in Chizuru at all but all that went through her head was what almost happened to her.

When Chizuru came back into the bathroom Tatsuki was still in a slight state of shock so the dry clothes were put aside. She slowly went to Tatsuki's side and hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. Tatsuki only faintly snapped out of it to find a deep concern in Chizuru's eyes. Her regret for entering this house was still high but regardless she would leave when the storm passed completely. After literally almost being struck by lightning she did not want to go outside in a storm anytime soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

2 Her cousin

Tatsuki sat on Chizuru's basement couch in silence while absentmindedly petting her dog that had taken a liking to her but apparently it did to everyone. Chizuru was silent as well as she sat on the opposite side of the couch. They were silent not because of the bitterness between them but the shock still hadn't faded completely from either of them though it was stronger in Tatsuki.

Chizuru slowly got off the couch and went upstairs and her dog loyally followed her out while Tatsuki's hand just stopped where it was. Slowly she looked down at it as she began reflecting on herself a bit. She looked over her life and how she lived it. For the most part she was content with it but some things she wasn't too fond of but there wasn't much to do about the past. All she could do was live the best she could now.

After a few minutes Chizuru returned and Tatsuki paid her a bit more mind now as she sat down and offered her a drink. Her dog jumped right up on the couch as Tatsuki accepted the tea with a forced smile though it warmed when the dog immediately used her lap as a pillow once more. She looked over at Chizuru with a slight smirk, "I think you're getting disowned by your dog."

Chizuru just shrugged, "He likes you since you were giving him attention. If you stop he'll come back over here."

Tatsuki moved her hands away from the dog to ignore it as she waited for its reaction. When it didn't move she just looked back at Chizuru and said, "You've been disowned."

"Traitor," She joked.

It wasn't long before Tatsuki began giving the dog attention once more. The silence between the two now was quickly becoming awkward as they had no conversational topics at all. But there was the matter of the rumors going on about them and Tatsuki was curious to know if Chizuru had heard them as well. It wasn't very likely considering that she had only heard of them about an hour ago. A part of her had to know though, "Chizuru, have you heard any of the rumors going on about us?"

"Yeah," Chizuru said slowly. "I had been wondering lately if you knew about them also."

"I just found out about them today." Tatsuki said. "It's all a bunch of crap. I don't like you at all, in any way or form."

"You can't claim that." Chizuru said. "You care a little bit to have walked me home."

"Hardly," Tatsuki said bitterly before realizing that she shouldn't be acting like this if she wanted the rumors to stop. "Look, I don't want these rumors going around anymore."

"What are you going to do about it?" Chizuru asked. "Beat everyone up? That won't help you at all."

"No, I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but I'm going to start lightening up a little on you." Tatsuki said. "Just so it doesn't look like something it's not and that's the only reason. But if we're alone and you piss me off I won't hold back."

"Are you actually saying that you're going to stop hitting me?" Chizuru asked in surprise.

"No, I'm just going to pull my punches and hit you less." Tatsuki said.

"And here I was hoping that my life might become a little easier." Chizuru said with a fake laugh.

"Something's really got you bothered then, huh?" Tatsuki said. "It was obvious all day."

"I don't doubt it." Chizuru said. "I was so lost in thought I didn't even notice you approach me earlier and I barely even noticed the car."

Again there was hesitation in the last word but Tatsuki didn't do anything since she was a little curious as to why she was so distracted today. Even with the bitterness and the fact that they hardly ever really talked, even though they had the same group of friends their conversations were limited to necessity, Tatsuki was curious. A little more then curious, concerned.

"Would you want to talk about it?" Tatsuki offered.

All she got was a strange look and, "That's something I never thought I'd hear from you."

"And I never once considered that I'd walk you home then enter it after almost getting hit by lightning." Tatsuki countered but said no more.

"Yeah, that's true also." Chizuru said.

"Let's just say I'm pretty lenient right now so anything that's on your mind let me know." Tatsuki said. "This is limited by the way, so after this don't expect anything else. Don't even expect to tell people I was even here."

"Don't worry, I hate the rumors just as much as you do." Chizuru said. "Everything that happens stays in this storm."

Tatsuki smirked a bit as Chizuru knew just as much as she did that as soon as this storm was over she was going to leave and there would be no more talking between them. They were silent as Tatsuki hesitantly drank her tea while carefully eyeing Chizuru. There was still no trust between them and she didn't exactly put it past Chizuru to drug her. She didn't want to wake up in one of this girl's fantasies nor did she even want to think about it. Tatsuki still just wanted to go home but the storm wasn't about to let up for her so she was stuck here.

A long time went by with no conversation between them. Tatsuki kept her attention mostly on the dog while Chizuru shifted almost nervously a few feet away from her. It was painfully obvious that they were just planning on waiting out the storm so one can leave. Chizuru's gaze was on and off Tatsuki. At first it was out of fear then it was slight amusement, "I didn't think you'd be such a pet person, Tatsuki."

"He's more entertaining then you are." Tatsuki said with a smirk.

"Well, we have nothing to talk about." Chizuru said.

"What was bothering you today?" Tatsuki asked.

"Thoughts of dying." Chizuru answered sadly.

Tatsuki's shock betrayed her as she snapped her attention over to Chizuru, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"One of my cousins, one that I was really close to, was in a car accident a few days ago." Chizuru said. "She died last night. Ever since I found out I've just been thinking about it."

"Yeah, I guess anyone would." Tatsuki said. "Are you alright?"

Chizuru just shook her head, "She was the only person in my family that knew about how I was. She accepted me for it too. Now she's gone and I have no one to talk to about those types of things."

Tears started to roll down Chizuru's cheeks. They were hesitant at first but soon got worse. Tatsuki watched her sympathetically for a moment before placing a hand on her shoulder to offer some comfort. Chizuru just stiffened at the action. Tatsuki let out a slight sigh, "Chizuru, this conversation is completely off the record. If you need to cry do it and I'll comfort you as much as I can stand it."

"Why bother?" Chizuru asked almost angrily. "You hate me."

"I know what it's like to lose someone close to death." Tatsuki said as her grip tightened on Chizuru's shoulder a little though it was more to emphasize her point then out of pain. "I lost a good friend to it not too long ago. Nothing will be the same again but you just have to learn to live with it and not linger on those you lost."

Tatsuki tried to hide her nervousness in this conversation. She hadn't really lost a good friend, well not completely. She spoke of Orihime and her involvement with the spiritual world. Her involvement was making their friendship suffer but it was still strong and it always would be. That would never change no matter how much distance came between them. But for this conversation things would have to be exaggerated for secrecies sake.

"It's easier said then done." Chizuru said a bit coldly. "But unlike you I don't have many friends to help me get over this."

"I never relied on my friends to get past it." Tatsuki said. "I didn't even talk about it to anyone at school. I went to other people for help and they told me everything that I needed to hear."

"And what was that?" Chizuru asked.

"That everything will be okay and that the person I lost will be alright." Tatsuki said. "What happens after death isn't all that bad. Your cousin will be fine and so will you. All you have to do is pay your respect and move on. There's nothing else you really can do."

Chizuru remained silent as she watched the floor allowing some tears to fall on her glasses. Tatsuki watched her sympathetically without really knowing what to say to her. There was a slight movement in the corner of the room that caught her eye but as she looked over there everything went dark as the power went out.

The dog immediately started barking and jumped off the couch and ran to the other side of the room. Tatsuki strained her eyes to try and see but it was too dark. There was no source of light coming from anywhere in this room to aid her search of movement.

There was a bit of irritation in Tatsuki's voice as she spoke, "What exactly made you think hanging out in your basement was a good idea in this storm?"

"I wasn't expecting the power to go out." Chizuru said. "Besides this is a better place to hang out then in my living room. Trust me you don't want to meet my parents… actually _you_ might enjoy it."

Tatsuki didn't respond as Chizuru got off the couch and made her way across the room slowly but a little loudly as she walked into the table. Tatsuki couldn't help but laugh as a few things fell over. "Oh, shut up."

"Bite me, that's funny no matter who does it." Tatsuki said.

"Then why don't you go get the flashlight?" Chizuru asked angrily.

"Because I don't know where it is." Tatsuki argued as she crossed her arms.

There was a bit more noise on the other side of the room before there was a click and a beam of light. Tatsuki's eyes widened as she saw a slight figure behind Chizuru. She knew immediately what it was and didn't say anything. She even had a feeling about what was going on. This situation was similar to one she had already been in but there was less danger right now.

Even with that knowledge she watched the spirit hover over Chizuru as she went through some drawers looking for something. There was little doubt in Tatsuki's mind that this spirit was Chizuru's cousin and there was even less doubt about lingering attachment. A bit of guilt went through her as she ignored the spirit while it followed Chizuru over to the couch. A few candles were placed on the table then lit for extra lighting. It wasn't long before the flashlight was turned off and they sat quietly in candlelight.

After a moment Tatsuki's guilt was almost overpowering and she had to lighten the mood but she also had to be careful with the extra presence. She had to stay on positive terms with Chizuru right now to help put this ghost at ease. A slight smirk formed on her face, "Is this mood setting?"

All she got was an irritated look for her comment "Would you rather sit in the dark?"

"Nah, this is fine." Tatsuki said. "I just had to say that."

The look of irritation faded and it became more of an odd look, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah," Tatsuki replied. "I'm just trying to lighten the mood a little. Just because we don't hang out much doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Chizuru asked. "You're acting really weird."

"I'm acting normal." Tatsuki said. "You just never see this side of me."

Chizuru fell silent for a moment while her odd look didn't let up in the slightest, "If I weren't standing right behind you I would be positive that the lighting fried your brain."

"Well, sorry for trying to have some fun while I'm here." Tatsuki said despite her anger of saying these things. She didn't want to enjoy being here but if it put the spirit of her cousin at ease then she would have to put up with it.

Chizuru continued to give her an odd look but didn't say anything about it. They fell back into silence for a while before Chizuru tapped the side of the couch a couple of times. Not long after that her dog came out from under a chair and came over. It jumped right up and rested on Chizuru's lap to get immediate attention. "Some guard dog."

"The blackout spooked him." Chizuru said. "Otherwise he's pretty protective of this house."

"Sounds like a good dog." Tatsuki said with a smile.

"Yeah, he's great company to have." Chizuru said fondly.

Tatsuki watched her for a moment before her gaze went past her once more to the ghost. The ghost had a very sad expression on her face. She held her gaze on the spirit for only a moment before shifting it once more. It was uncomfortable being around a spirit as well as someone that was completely unaware of the spiritual world. It was even worse with this situation since Tatsuki had to be nice to help put the spirit at ease. She knew what could happen with lingering spirits that didn't move on. The worst part is that she couldn't do anything about it with Chizuru in the room as well.

Tatsuki let out a sigh getting Chizuru's attention, "About what you were saying earlier, do you want to talk about it at all?"

"Not really," Chizuru said.

"You can't linger on this forever." Tatsuki said. "If you want to talk about it, honestly now is the best time to do it."

"I don't think I'm really ready for that yet." Chizuru said. "It's a bit too soon and it's you."

"Yeah, I guess that would make it pretty hard." Tatsuki said. "What if we put all that behind us then? Even if it's just for now you need to talk about this."

"Maybe some other time," Chizuru said doubtfully.

"Whenever you want to talk about it just let me know." Tatsuki said.

"Why are you being so nice right now?" Chizuru asked suspiciously.

Tatsuki just shrugged nervously as there were two sets of eyes on her now, "I'm just concerned, is that so hard to believe?"

"For you to be nice to me is hard to believe." Chizuru said.

"Well, I've been doing some thinking since I came in your house." Tatsuki said. "With the close call just outside I reflected on my life a bit. It's not much of a reason to do it but still. Looking at the way I act well, I think it's safe to say not everyone would miss me, you know?"

"So you want to be loved by everyone?" Chizuru asked skeptically.

"Not even," Tatsuki laughed. "I just want to be a better person, that's all."

Chizuru watched her carefully as if thinking it over. Eventually she just shrugged and brought all her attention to her dog while her cousin kept up a suspicious look. Tatsuki watched the ground nervously but her nervousness heightened as the spirit went over to her as if to inspect her more closely. The spirit sat on the table in front of her with crossed arms and Tatsuki didn't dare look up and chance making eye contact with her. If there was eye contact then there was a good chance that the spirit would notice her ability to see her and then it would be an even more complicated situation.

If this spirit found out and it really was Chizuru's cousin then she might want to try having a conversation with Chizuru through Tatsuki. She wouldn't mind that much but the two of them weren't that close so that would make this whole thing awkward not to mention how she would even tell Chizuru she was able to see spirits. This was a bad time and a bad person to have this conversation with so if she could avoid it then she would.

They remained silent for awhile and the spirit was unwavering as it watched Tatsuki. She watched it as well from the corner of her eye but it was never her main focus. Her gaze had gone back to Chizuru as she became nervous once more, "I'm going to go see how bad the storm is right now."

"Alright," Tatsuki said a little gratefully. She wouldn't admit it under the circumstance but she still didn't want to be anywhere near Chizuru right now even if she could help her move on from the death of her cousin. Chizuru grabbed the flashlight and went for the stairs. They were mostly covered by a wall so she couldn't tell when she reached the top for sure and just used sound. When she found it safe she brought her gaze right to the spirit, "You're her cousin, right?"

"So you can see me then." She said and Tatsuki nodded. "I had a feeling with the way you looked over at me before the lights went out."

"Are you her cousin then?" Tatsuki asked again.

"Yeah, I want to make sure she's alright before I pass on." She replied.

"It's not safe to linger in the world of the living for too long after passing." Tatsuki said. "It isn't safe for you or her."

"You seem to know a lot about this sort of stuff." She said.

"My best friend's older brother died and remained attached to her. He turned into a hollow and attacked both of us one night." Tatsuki replied. "What I know is just from that experience or someone else told me about it."

"So what are you to Chizuru?" She asked. "You two don't seem really close."

"We're not," Tatsuki replied. "I just walked her home today since she didn't have an umbrella then I ended up sitting here to wait out the storm. That's pretty much all there is but I can't really deny that I'm concerned about her right now. I wouldn't mind giving her a hand with moving on. You really meant a lot to her."

"Yes, I know." She replied sadly. "Every time we saw each other she would almost cling to me in tears. She really doesn't have anyone here does she?"

"No, almost every one at school avoids her." Tatsuki replied.

"Would you be her friend?" She asked. "Keep her away from that Tatsuki girl also."

Tatsuki tensed up a bit at the last comment. They hadn't even introduced themselves yet so this woman had no idea who she was. Tatsuki was a little curious about what Chizuru had said about her behind her back though, "What has she said about Tatsuki?"

"I heard she's one of the people that bully Chizuru at school." She said almost immediately. "I've even seen the bruises left from her. She's lucky I never had a chance to meet her. If I could I'd give her a piece of my mind right now."

"So Chizuru talks that badly about her then?" Tatsuki asked rhetorically. "I had no idea things were so bad between them."

"Yeah, Chizuru was always in a fit about it but it's not as bad as it was when they first met." She said sadly. "She got over her crush pretty fast after the bullying started. I still remember the first thing she said about her perfectly. She even called me to talk about it right after school ended."

"What did she say?" Tatsuki asked nervously.

"Chizuru thought that she was cool and good looking." She said with a warm smile that faded when she started speaking again. "I came down to visit not long after that and found her crying because the bullying had started. She was so heartbroken about it."

"I had no idea she ever felt that way." Tatsuki said a little guiltily but quickly added, "I mean she always had her eyes on Orihime. Everyone knows that and she hardly ever goes after anyone else."

"She's had plenty of crushes on plenty of girls. Trust me on that one, I got all the details." She said with a laugh. "But she always claimed that she couldn't help herself around Orihime."

"Yeah, she says that all the time at school also." Tatsuki replied.

Tatsuki fell into an awkward silence as the spirit admitted to not liking her all the while not knowing who she really was. The situation just got even worse and if Chizuru called for her or even said her name things would get really bad. She had to make sure that things went smoothly though that would never happen with Chizuru. This had to be approached very carefully for not only her sake but for the other two as well. She knew what could happen when a lingering spirit was enraged.

"Listen, I'm going to do my best to help Chizuru move on and I'll start looking out for her at school whenever I can." Tatsuki stated. "Regardless of how I acted towards her before, I'll do my best to be a good friend for her."

The spirit smiled at her, "I'm grateful to hear that."

"If there's anything you want me to tell her I probably can but I don't exactly want her to know about my ability to see the dead." Tatsuki said quietly as movement was heard near the top of the stairs.

"Thank you," She said warmly. "I can tell you two will be good friends in the future."

Tatsuki smiled awkwardly before letting it fade as she shifted her attention towards the stairs. Chizuru came down the stairs followed faithfully by her dog and went right over to the couch and sat down once more as she said, "It hasn't let up yet. You're probably going to be here for a while. I guess that's bad news, huh?"

"Nah, its fine," Tatsuki said as the dog rested on her lap again. "I've taken a liking to your dog."

"That traitor." Chizuru said. "He's supposed to keep danger away not take a liking to it."

"Bite me," Tatsuki said with a bit of a laugh. "Things are going to be a little different alright?"

Chizuru gave her an odd look as Tatsuki forced a smile. She was starting to see Chizuru a little more vulnerable after what her cousin had said about their conversations. Chizuru had never broken down at school so she must have always done it over the phone with her cousin. It was a little sad to know these things now and it was even worse to know how much Tatsuki had really done to the girl. There was no way things would be able to go on the way they were before. Especially after the conversation she just had with Chizuru's cousin.

Tatsuki let out a sigh and leaned back on the couch and made eye contact with the spirit that sat there. She held a warm smile but got nothing in return as Tatsuki couldn't return it without raising questions. Tatsuki wanted to bring Chizuru's cousin up in conversation so she could move on easier since her cousin was sitting right here with them but she didn't want to risk her cousin finding out her name just yet. It wouldn't matter much once she became more dedicated to this but right now it was bad.

"Hey, if you could say something to her right now what would it be?" Tatsuki asked as she glanced over at Chizuru so she wouldn't receive two answers at once.

Chizuru met her eyes and replied, "I would tell her how much she really meant to me and how she was the only person I was ever able to rely on when it came to any problems I was having. I'd also have to apologize about using her as a pillow so much. She really was the only person I could really call a friend in years."

Tatsuki smiled warmly as she noticed her cousin move to cover her mouth with one hand. "I'm sure that would really make her happy."

"I just regret that I never told her any of that." Chizuru said sadly.

"I'm sure she knows regardless." Tatsuki replied. "Even if Orihime never says how grateful she is to me I still know. I'm sure it was the same for her."

She looked back across from her in time to see her cousin nod. "Can you tell her that I'm looking over her?"

Tatsuki nodded faintly but remained silent for a moment before saying, "I might not know much about her or the bond that the two of you shared but it sounds like she was always looking out for you. I wouldn't doubt it if she were looking over you right now from wherever she is."

Chizuru hunched over a little as tears rolled down her cheeks. Tatsuki hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort but she didn't react to it. She chanced a quick glance at her cousin only to find a sad expression. All her attention went back to Chizuru as her cousin spoke, "Whenever she cried I normally held her but on the phone I just told her that everything will work out in the end but I guess that wouldn't really apply to this."

Tatsuki let out a slightly aggravated sigh as she lifted the dog off her and put him on the ground before she moved closer to Chizuru and held her in her arms. Chizuru's tears stopped almost immediately as she looked over at Tatsuki in almost complete shock. Tatsuki just looked away and said, "I'm just trying to be a good friend."

"But we're not friends, Tatsuki." Chizuru said. "We never were."

Tatsuki's face paled as the now enraged spirit of Chizuru's cousin stood up as the name was spoken. She did her best to stay calm and ignore her cousin, "Well, that's going to change. We'll become friends… eventually."

"Why bother though?" Chizuru asked. "You hate my guts."

"I've decided to look out for you." Tatsuki said. "I guess you can say I'm taking over for your cousin."

Chizuru fell silent and her cousin walked around them so she was right where Tatsuki was looking. Tatsuki avoided her eyes completely ashamed of herself. Her gaze was only on her face long enough to see the intensity of the anger she held, "_You're _Tatsuki, the _same_ Tatsuki that's been picking on Chizuru every single day?"

Tatsuki nodded faintly but said nothing as Chizuru was still completely oblivious to what was actually going on around her. "Do you have any idea what you put this girl through? She cried about it every day for the first couple of months of school and even wanted to drop out because of you. Chizuru was in love with you and you treated her like she was worthless every single day. Do you have any idea what that's even like?"

Tatsuki's grip on Chizuru tightened a little as she shook her head a little. "Next time you want to belittle someone think about how it's going to affect them first then don't even dare mistreat them. How are you even here right now? I can't believe Chizuru is still able to let you into her house right now and you even dare act like this towards her when you don't even care about her at all. How can you live with yourself?"

"Chizuru, I know this probably won't mean anything to you right now but I am really sorry about the way I treated you before." Tatsuki said sincerely but didn't dare look at her cousin. "I completely understand why you hate me and I honestly don't blame you at all."

"I don't hate you, Tatsuki." Chizuru said slowly as she slightly nestled herself in Tatsuki's embrace.

"Ask her why." Her cousin demanded immediately.

"How could you not?" Tatsuki asked. "With all the things I've done to you, I don't even know why you let me in here."

Chizuru didn't respond though she just remained silent for a long time. In that time Tatsuki didn't look at either of them out of partial fear. Finally Chizuru spoke up, "It's strange, I though that if you were to hold me I'd only be afraid but I'm not. Instead I sort of feel like you would protect me if you had to."

"Maybe that's because I somewhat did earlier." Tatsuki said now almost saddened that she had done that with thoughts of protecting Orihime. "Maybe it's just because of that."

"Maybe," Chizuru said. "But it's still kind of nice. The only other time I feel like I'm being protected is when my cousin held me while I was upset."

Tatsuki tightened her grip a little as she got the courage to meet her cousin's eyes once more. There was still a lot of anger in them but she still watched Chizuru sympathetically. "I'll be keeping my eye on you, Tatsuki. If you so much as hurt her I'll find a way to hurt you."

She nodded slightly in response but no more then that as the power came back on. "Do you think the storm's over now?"

There was a hint of sadness in Chizuru's voice as she spoke so Tatsuki could only say, "I don't know,"

"I guess you want to head out as soon as you can, right?" Chizuru asked.

"I don't know." Tatsuki repeated honestly making Chizuru leave the embrace to look at her properly with a strange look. "I mean the two of us aren't really friends but right now you probably shouldn't be alone. Right now I feel like I'm all you have so I want to be that person for you."

Once more she showed complete shock but with the power back Tatsuki was able to notice a very faint blush on her face. She began to wonder if this girl still had feelings for her deep down or if they had just been buried under all the abuse but resurfaced with their interactions today. Either way she was feeling something and it just meant she was being drawn to Tatsuki more. It wasn't a pleasant thought for Tatsuki but what she had said was mostly true, she didn't want to be that person for Chizuru but she would if she had to.

Tatsuki unwillingly pulled Chizuru back into her arms where she got comfortable almost immediately. They remained silent for a while before Tatsuki looked back at the spirit that seemed to have calmed down and was watching Chizuru with an almost disappointed look, "She still cares about you."

Tatsuki nodded in response as she tightened her grip on Chizuru a little bit. This was going to be a long evening. Even when the storm breaks she might have to stay here until Chizuru is doing a little better. Now that her cousin was going to be hanging around she wouldn't have to rush through helping Chizuru move on but in the process she would become her cousin's replacement. That was even less of a pleasant thought to have.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

3 Between a ghost and a cold

Tatsuki was lying on her bed the next morning with a headache as Chizuru's cousin sat at her desk. She didn't announce her consciousness as she found the spirit to be very annoying as she continued to press her with questions. The questions had gone both ways and she learned that her name was Yasuko and she had lived in the next town with her fiancée. They didn't do much talking about their lives just the basics to get a better understanding of each other though it didn't change her opinion on Tatsuki.

Yasuko had given her plenty of warnings, threats, and even long speeches on how she should treat others. It all got annoying fast but Tatsuki put up with it since if she showed her irritation then it would be even more reason for Yasuko to linger around her. Though she planned on having a talk with Rukia about ghost problems the first chance she got. If Rukia could get rid of this ghost then she would be more then happy about it.

She glanced over at Yasuko to find she was going through some books on her desk and reading them. Tatsuki said nothing to her as she feared it would just lead to another argument. It didn't help that both of them had argued most of the night. All their arguments were half yelling and half quiet talking so Tatsuki's parents wouldn't find out about this little 'intruder'. If they did then Tatsuki would have to try and explain her ability to see spirits and there was no way that they'd believe her on this one.

All she had to do was keep quiet about it and keep Yasuko out of sight of people that could see her, which meant she wouldn't be able to follow her to school since it would definitely cause a ruckus with a few people. Unfortunately with her opinion of Tatsuki she wouldn't even get a moment alone. This ghost was going to be stalking her until she passes on, a process that will be forced today. It no longer mattered that her connection with Chizuru would be helpful to cheer her up. Tatsuki no longer cared.

She sat up slowly getting the ghosts attention. Yasuko looked over at her with almost a glare as she watched Tatsuki angrily. Tatsuki avoided her eyes as she watched the ground with a hand on her forehead. Her headache was beginning to make her feel dizzy and a little sick. There was a good chance she caught a cold from the storm the day before. She didn't dry herself off properly at Chizuru's house and it was almost freezing when she went home afterwards.

Her headache was only getting worse and the room felt like it was spinning. It wasn't long before she laid back down with a groan. She had definitely caught a cold and there was no way she could go to school like this. She wouldn't even make it to the clinic a couple of blocks away but with the way she was feeling she should probably go. That trip would have to be made later on in the day though if she tried to make it now she would probably collapse.

Yasuko walked over to the bed with her arms crossed as if already going to start an argument but she just stood beside the bed quietly for a moment before saying anything, "Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"

Tatsuki just shook her head, "I'm not going today."

"Feeling guilty now?" She implied rudely.

"That has nothing to do with it." Tatsuki said. "I just got a really bad cold from yesterday."

"That's convenient." Yasuko said sarcastically.

"Not even close." Tatsuki replied. "If the room wasn't spinning right now I'd just take some medicine and go anyways."

"You aren't looking too good right now." Yasuko said with a bit of concern.

"I plan on going to the clinic after I get some more rest." Tatsuki said. "It's only about a block away so it'll be fine."

Yasuko leaned over and placed her wrist on Tatsuki's forehead to check her temperature. Her look of concern grew as she walked out of the room. It wasn't long before she came back and placed a wet cloth on Tatsuki's forehead. Its cool felt amazing to Tatsuki as she burned up in the heat of her cold. She panted heavily as Yasuko sat on the side of her bed with her with a growing concern. "Are you alright, Tatsuki?"

"I thought you were here to haunt me not to take care of me." Tatsuki said with a bit of a laugh.

"You're my last connection to Chizuru so I'll be nice when I have to." She said strictly. "But yes, I am going to haunt you if you continue to bully Chizuru."

"It won't stop right away." Tatsuki said weakly. "I have to ease out of it to avoid further rumors about us. Chizuru already knows about it and she hates them too."

"As long as it stops soon." Yasuko said strictly. "In the mean time I'm haunting you."

"Right…" Tatsuki said as she fell asleep once more.

Tatsuki slowly opened her eyes and found she had been repositioned on the bed and the cloth on her head was still cold. She glanced over and found Yasuko sitting on a chair next to her bed as she read a book. There was automatic confusion before Tatsuki smiled a little, "Are you mothering me now?"

"No, I told you earlier that I'm only being nice to you because you're my only connection to Chizuru." She said bluntly. "When you get better I'm going to pay you back for what you did to Chizuru. Only it's going to be much, much worse. I can assure you that."

"Do whatever." Tatsuki said distantly.

She knew what she had done to Chizuru wasn't right and she now knew exactly what it had done to her because Yasuko told her everything the previous night during their arguments. There was no anger in either of them right now as their interactions with one another were completely different with this situation. Yasuko knew that if Tatsuki didn't get better then she wouldn't be able to use her to communicate with her cousin and they both knew that communication with Chizuru would happen no matter how much they argued or hated each other.

Tatsuki placed her hand on the wet cloth on her forehead with a sigh. A few drops of water dripped down the side of her temples as she applied pressure to the cloth. "What time is it?"

"It's about noon." Yasuko replied. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Right now yeah, but if I sit up it might change that." Tatsuki said.

"Probably, just stay relaxed right now." Yasuko said almost sternly. "You missed a call though."

"It was probably Orihime." Tatsuki said. "Can you pass me my phone? I'll email her to let her know what's up."

Yasuko got up and walked over to the table without bringing her attention away from the book. When the cell phone was retrieved she returned to the bed and handed it to Tatsuki. She opened it to confirm that it was in fact Orihime that called her. Sure enough it was, so she sent a quick message to her, ***Hey, I caught a cold so I'm staying home. You don't have to worry about it, I'm going to sleep it off and I'm being taken care of. I'll see you either tomorrow or the next day.***

She sent the message and slid her phone under her pillow for easier access when she got a reply. Yasuko finally placed the book down and removed the wet cloth from Tatsuki's forehead to check her temperature. There was less concern in Yasuko's eyes as the wet cloth was replaced on Tatsuki's forehead, "You should be fine by tomorrow as long as you take it easy for the rest of the day."

"That's good news for you then." Tatsuki said with a bit of a smirk. "You get to have a slight form of conversation with Chizuru soon."

"Yeah," Yasuko said a little distantly. "I'm really worried about her right now."

Tatsuki watched her worry grow for a moment before pulling her phone out from under her pillow and flipped it open. "Do you want to send her an anonymous email? As long as you don't identify yourself or be too specific it should be fine."

"Do you think that would be alright?" Yasuko asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, just don't bring me up at all." Tatsuki said as she punched in a few numbers to make the message anonymous. "She'll just think it's a sick joke if she knows I had anything to do with it."

"You never plan on telling her that I'm still here do you?" Yasuko asked sadly.

"I would tell her but there is no way for me to prove it and since we don't get along it's even less of a chance she'll even hear me out about it." Tatsuki said as she handed Yasuko the phone. "I'll tell her when she'll actually believe me but you can't stay here forever even if I still haven't told her when she moves on then you two won't have an actual conversation ever again. You might not remember her after you pass on."

Yasuko looked completely grief stricken by that as she took the phone. She immediately started her message with complete determination to get everything she needed to say into that one message. Tatsuki watched sadly as the ghost of someone recently departed tried desperately to communicate to someone that will never know how close she still was to her. Tatsuki couldn't even begin to imagine what it must be like to go through that but then, the people she would try to communicate with after death would be able to see her.

Tatsuki couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like nor could she even begin to imagine being in the opposite position since she was aware of the spiritual world and lived on its border. She could see, hear, and even interact with the dead but she couldn't do anything more then that. The most she could do was help them move on or give loved ones messages, though this is the first time she ever really interacted with the dead or tried to help. It was just a bad situation and pity that led her to this.

It took a few minutes before the message was finished and the phone was handed back to Tatsuki. She was taken aback when she noticed that it hadn't been sent at all. Her gaze went back to Yasuko as she spoke, "I don't know if it will actually work if I send it so I want you to do it. I'm afraid she'll get it blank."

"Alright," Tatsuki said but hesitated on sending it. "Since you typed it though, it still might be blank when she gets it."

Her eyes widened a bit as if she hadn't even thought about it. Tatsuki was saddened by the chances of this not working so she thought quickly on how to find another way around this, "In the top drawer in my desk there's a notebook and some pens. Bring it over and I'll copy the message down then retype it and send it to her. I know that this is personal but it might be the only way."

There was a lot of hesitation before Yasuko obliged. Even when she walked back to the bed there was hesitation before she handed it over. Tatsuki brought her legs up to use that as support for the notebook as she looked back at the message. She could even sense the nervousness in Yasuko so to put her at ease she said, "I'll write it like its school notes. I'll just copy and not pay attention or ask questions about it."

"Thanks," Yasuko said.

They fell into silence as Tatsuki wrote out the message twice and as promised she didn't pay much attention to it. Just enough to make sure it was right. When she finished she handed the phone back to Yasuko and said, "You can proof read it since you probably don't really trust me with this."

She scanned through it with a growing warm smile making one form on Tatsuki's face as well. Yasuko handed the phone back with tears in her eyes. Tatsuki let her thumb hover over send as she looked over at Yasuko once more, "Is there anything else you want added?"

"No, that should be alright." Yasuko said warmly.

There was still a little hesitation before Tatsuki sent it. She was a little unsure about this message since if it was traced back to her then there would be no way to get out of the situation and if it got around then it would be all over. Though the message was sent anonymously and she made sure of that. She went through the phones memory and deleted the draft and the number that was on there so it was impossible to trace it on her phone at all if it were checked though it was unlikely.

She ripped the page out of the notebook and folded it a few times so it would fit in a pocket before she handed it to Yasuko. "This way Chizuru won't find it and you can always remember it as long as you have it."

"Thank you, for this." Yasuko said with a warm smile. "I think this part of you is what Chizuru likes."

"She'll see it more." Tatsuki said. "But I still have to keep up appearances at school. There are a lot of rumors about us that we both want to get rid of so I can't just stop and change my attitude towards her."

"You wouldn't want to be with her in a relationship?" Yasuko asked.

"I'm not like that." Tatsuki said. "Even if I were I doubt anything would happen between us."

"I see," She said slowly. "It's a bit of a shame, to be honest."

Tatsuki gave her a strange look, "What do you mean."

"You have some good in you." Yasuko said warmly. "If you were always like this then I'd be completely disappointed in you for not liking Chizuru. She's a good kid but no one understands her."

"If she wasn't so open about how she is then people would like her more." Tatsuki said.

"I think that's one of her good points, though." Yasuko said. "She's completely comfortable with who she is and how she is. Well, not with family much since her parents are completely oblivious to how their daughter is."

Tatsuki watched her carefully and saw a warm smile on her face. She looked back at the ceiling and thought about it a little. As she thought back on it she realized that never once did Chizuru ever seem uncomfortable with how she was. In fact she was completely proud of it. Even when she was picked on for it she always seemed so strong about it. But now she knew how vulnerable she was about the bullying. She had never known Chizuru to be vulnerable until yesterday.

Even with this knowledge though it didn't really affect her opinion of the redhead and it was unlikely that it would ever really change. The only thing that would happen for sure was that she would lighten up on her and with the situation she might even become more tolerable of her as well. She still completely doubted it but between Chizuru and her cousin the chances of her becoming more tolerable was very high.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Yasuko took the cloth off her head and left the room in silence. Tatsuki said nothing and just stared up at the ceiling. After a moment her cell phone vibrated startling her a little. She opened it and found Orihime had messaged her in response to her earlier message. She was almost nervous to respond to it but she knew she couldn't ignore it so she checked it.

***Are you okay, Tatsuki? I'll come over right after school so get plenty of rest until then. If you need anything just let me know.***

A smile formed on Tatsuki's face immediately as she sent another message to her, ***It's fine, you don't have to go out of your way. There's already someone here taking care of me so you don't have to worry about it. I'm already feeling better so I'll be in school tomorrow. Just lend me your notes tomorrow morning and that's all you have to do.***

She sent the message as Yasuko came back into the room. She stopped dead in her tracks with wide eyes as she spotted Tatsuki with her phone in hand. "Orihime messaged me back."

"Oh, am I finally going to meet this Orihime that I've heard so much about?" Yasuko said with a laugh as she walked over and placed the cloth on Tatsuki's forehead once more.

"I'm kind of hoping not." Tatsuki said. "She can see spirits too but she has more involvement in that world then I do and she's closer to people that would make you pass on. It might be easier if we kept this a bit quiet right now. Orihime might be a bit overly excited about it also. Sometimes she's a bit too caring about some things."

"So you're as protective of her as I've heard." Yasuko said with a smirk. "Is there anything going on between you two?"

"Not even close." Tatsuki stated bluntly. "Orihime is like a sister to me. We're always there for each other no matter what the problem is. Besides, I already said I wasn't like that. I'm not even interested in any sort of relationship. I've never been interested in anyone and no one's ever really been interested in me. Well, that's what I thought before, at least."

"And now that you know?" Yasuko asked curiously.

"I'm still not like that, Yasuko." Tatsuki said. "I can't just change that to make someone happy. Even if I could I still wouldn't because that wouldn't be me. It would be what someone else wants me to be."

"I used to think the same way you do." Yasuko said. "When I first met my fiancée I was just as stubborn and stuck-up as you are now and he was my complete opposite. But he was a smooth talker and got a date out of me and after that he got another. It took a month before we really started to get along then we both just adjusted to each other and before I knew it he was a different person and so was I."

"Even if I were to change for someone I'm not like that." Tatsuki said.

"Yeah," Yasuko said with a smirk and went back to the book she was reading before. "We have a similar taste in authors."

"Really?" Tatsuki asked a little surprised. "I didn't think anyone else read those books."

"They're really underrated." Yasuko said. "And the plots aren't always the best but the talent is there nonetheless."

"Yeah, it's a little disappointing to read a bad story from an amazing author." Tatsuki agreed.

"Yeah," Yasuko agreed almost distantly.

Tatsuki looked over at her with a bit of surprise that they were getting along so well despite everything she had put Chizuru through. Even with Tatsuki's cold Yasuko was acting like there was nothing bad going on with Chizuru. It was as if they were actually friends right now and not strangers. But the more they talked the more it seemed that they had in common. It was as if Tatsuki never belittled Chizuru or those two weren't even related.

"Do you think things will work out for Chizuru?" Tatsuki asked. "She's alone now."

"I thought you were going to step up." Yasuko said. "If you don't then things won't work out well for her and she'll have no one at all."

"You seem surprisingly calm about this." Tatsuki said. "I thought you were really protective of her."

"I am, that's why I'm going to make sure you step up for her." She said meeting Tatsuki's eyes. "But I have a feeling that force won't exactly be necessary."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tatsuki asked.

"You two have a lot in common, there's just something standing between you two." Yasuko said. "Once you get past that then everything will be fine between you two. Trust me, I'm a high school councilor."

"Used to be," Tatsuki corrected sadly.

"I'm still working." She said with a smirk.

"So it seems." Tatsuki said with a light laugh.

They fell into silence once more as Yasuko continued to read the book and Tatsuki went back into thought. She knew she would have to try and talk to Chizuru tomorrow at school or possibly even after school. There was no way she could just go to her house to try and hang out and there was no way she could call. That would be the worst way to communicate with her. She wouldn't even be able to tell her how she even got the number.

"I'm a little curious, have you ever been attracted to anyone?" Yasuko asked.

"No why?" Tatsuki asked.

"I was just curious, you should be at that age by now." She replied.

"I am but I don't find anyone all that appealing." Tatsuki said. "Maybe if someone I could relate to were to come along then maybe I'd go out with him."

"You sound like you're my age." Yasuko laughed. "You still have plenty of years to try different things. Don't expect to meet someone and then that's it. Relationships are trial and error. Things rarely work out with your first relationship. It took me a _lot_ of tries before I decided to settle. Even after that he wasn't my dream guy but I still cared for him more then anything."

"I bet Chizuru was pretty upset about it." Tatsuki laughed.

"Not really, she was happy for me and he understood her as well." Yasuko replied. "He understood that I was the only one there for Chizuru so we had our girl time."

"That's good." Tatsuki said.

"This is a change." Yasuko said. "It seems that you're starting to accept Chizuru already. I knew I wouldn't have to use force with you."

Tatsuki fell silent and looked away. She still didn't want to be close to Chizuru even though she was probably the only person that could be right now. She just didn't want to be involved with her anymore then she had to be but with the situation she had to be there for Chizuru a lot now and with her cousin 'haunting' her she would be speaking for her as well whenever the two talked about the passing.

She let out a sigh as her phone vibrated again. She looked at it and found it was Orihime again. Yasuko glanced up from the book curiously, "Orihime again or a number you don't recognize."

"It's Orihime." Tatsuki said. "She's replying to my second message. Chizuru won't call me. She doesn't know the number and I blocked my number so it will be an unknown on her phone. I'm not about to be accused of playing a sick joke."

"Yeah, then everyone would hate you." Yasuko said a little coldly.

"Okay, where do you stand when it comes to hating me?" Tatsuki asked. "First you're nice, then you're hating me, then you're nice, now you're going back to hating me."

"Where do you stand with Chizuru?" She asked in response.

"I don't hate her but don't have much patience for her. No matter how I feel things are going to change between us and if she'll let me in then I'll be there for her." Tatsuki said. "And if we become friends during that process then why not? I don't think it'll actually happen but if it does then it does."

"Being mature again?" She asked.

"I'm trying to be a good person." Tatsuki replied.

Yasuko just smirked, "I find it hard to believe you."

"Why's that?" Tatsuki sighed.

"Well, you didn't admit to bullying Chizuru when we were talking yesterday." Yasuko said. "There's also a lot of contradicting going on with you."

"I have no idea what sort of 'contradicting' you're talking about." Tatsuki said. "But the reason why I didn't admit to who I was yesterday was because that was already a bad situation and I knew you wouldn't react well to knowing who I was. If I told you right away then you wouldn't have had that small bit of conversation with her."

Yasuko was silent for a while before speaking again, "The way you've been acting since we met is different from the way Chizuru has described you. I know she wasn't lying to me and I know a lot of what you're doing for Chizuru is forced. Which one of us are you trying to fool, me or Chizuru?"

"At first it was you because I wanted to put you at ease and it would have helped if you saw Chizuru with a friend and not someone she didn't get along with." Tatsuki admitted. "But after we had that small conversation I wasn't trying to fool either of you even though it was forced it's just because I don't like her. I'm not trying to win any friends with this. I just want her to be okay and for you to move on before something bad happens to you. If you become a hollow you'll probably go after Chizuru first since she's the reason why you're still here."

"I would never harm her." Yasuko said as if disgusted by the thought.

"That's the same way Sora was towards Orihime but he attacked both me and her one night at her house after he became a hollow." Tatsuki said. "He did it because he was still attached to her and couldn't stand the thought of losing her."

Yasuko went silent once more so Tatsuki flipped open her phone and checked the message that Orihime had sent to her, ***Don't push yourself if you're not up for it tomorrow. I'll call you after school to see how you're doing and if you want I'll come over to lend you my notes so you don't have to worry about it. Get plenty of rest though… Who's taking care of you right now?***

Tatsuki thought about the best way to reply to that without having to say that she was being haunted by Chizuru's cousin who passed away a couple of days ago but in a turn of events she was being mothered by the same ghost. She didn't even want to say that a ghost was taking care of her but if she came over then she would definitely find out about it. Tatsuki just let out a sigh and sent a short message that didn't explain anything, ***It's complicated so I'll try to explain it later…If I even figure out how to.***

"Was it bad news?" Yasuko asked.

"No, just concern but she asked who was taking care of me." Tatsuki replied. "I told her it was complicated and that I'd explain it later. Maybe I'll actually know what to say when I see her later."

"Why not just tell her the truth?" Yasuko asked.

"It would be impossible to explain that to her." Tatsuki said. "Besides she might try to get involved either with Chizuru's attachment to you or your passing on. Right now we can't have either."

"Why can't she help Chizuru as well?" Yasuko asked.

"Because Chizuru will use her as an excuse to ignore the problem and she would be all over her and I'll have my usual reaction and hit her which would just make her withdraw from whatever small amount of trust the two of us have." Tatsuki said. "There's also the fact that it would piss you off and if you lose control of your emotions I don't think it will be good. I want to avoid as much problems as I can with this. The faster this goes away the better."

"So you still want nothing to do with Chizuru." Yasuko said angrily.

"Not really," Tatsuki said. "We aren't exactly close but with what's going on in her life I'll be there for her no matter what. Even if I hate her I'm still concerned about her now."

"If you two became closer would you pursue friendship with her?" Yasuko asked.

"I don't know, but I highly doubt it." Tatsuki said. "I'm just going to go with the flow. If she wants to be friends then we'll be friends."

"What if she wants to go out with you in the end?" Yasuko asked. "Would you lead her on or would you deny her."

"I'd apologize and say I wasn't like that." Tatsuki said.

"Is that so?" Yasuko said with a slight smirk.

"What are you implying?" Tatsuki asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing at all." Yasuko said amusedly. "I'm just sensing uncertainty in you right now."

"Okay fine, it depends on what the situation was." Tatsuki said. "If she got really bad then I might have to lead her on so she's not completely beating herself up over everything."

"So if she were to ask you now?" Yasuko asked.

"She wouldn't try it." Tatsuki said. "Chizuru is way too nervous to even do anything to me now because of the way I treated her. She probably wouldn't even consider it."

"I don't know, you were holding her pretty protectively last night." Yasuko said with a grin.

"I was just trying to put her at ease. It was nothing more then that." Tatsuki said. "When she said that she felt safe like the way she did in your embrace I was just trying to keep that going so she could remember the time you two spent together and not that you passed."

Yasuko fell silent once more with the reminder of her passing. Tatsuki watched her silently for a moment before saying, "I told Orihime I was going to sleep off this cold so I should probably try to get some more rest since she'll be here after school. If she shows up and I'm still asleep then can you keep what's going on a secret until things settle down a bit more with Chizuru?"

"Yeah, get some rest." Yasuko said a little kindly. "It will stay between us for now. I won't say anything about myself to her or anyone else that can see me."

"Thanks," Tatsuki said as she closed her eyes. As she drifted back to sleep she thought about how her next conversation would go and how the next conversation she would have with Chizuru would go since they would have to talk sometime tomorrow. They needed to make some sort of arrangement to meet after school to avoid further rumors but it would have to be indoors. Thought she didn't want to have Chizuru knowing where she lived so she would have to go to her house all the time. At least she liked her dog.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

4 Divine intervention

Tatsuki stirred from her sleep once more and glanced over to the side expecting to see Yasuko sitting there but she was gone and the chair had been moved back to the desk. She slowly sat up and waited for another dizzy spell to put her out again but even that didn't come. Slowly she got out of bed and went to her closet to get dressed. As she got there a soft knock on her door brought her attention away from her closet.

The door opened and Orihime walked in quickly with a look of pure concern. Their eyes met immediately and Orihime rushed over to her and practically dragged her back to her bed as she expressed her concern, "Tatsuki, you shouldn't be moving around if you're sick. You're still really pale."

"I feel fine now, Orihime." Tatsuki protested as she was laid down. "You were supposed to call me before you came over."

"I did and you didn't answer me." Orihime said with a frown. "Don't you remember sending me an email telling me to come over?"

"I haven't messaged you since lunch." Tatsuki said. "I've been sleeping since then."

They both shared a strange look before Tatsuki figured out what must have happened. She reached under her pillow and searched for her cell phone but it wasn't there. She groaned in anger, "Yasuko must have messaged you."

"Who's Yasuko?" Orihime asked.

"She's a ghost that decided to haunt me." Tatsuki said with a bit of irritation. "She's not doing a very good job of it though since she's been taking care of me all day but I don't know where she disappeared to."

"Why are you being haunted?" Orihime asked.

"I think she's just bored." Tatsuki lied. "She'll pass on eventually and until then she can have her fun."

"Tatsuki you know she can't stay here forever." Orihime said sadly as she crouched down by the bed. "You know what could happen."

"I know but she still has something to take care of before she goes." Tatsuki said. "I told her I'd help her with it since she can't do much on her own."

"If you're helping her then why is she haunting you?" Orihime asked.

"She doesn't like me too much." Tatsuki said. "I don't blame her, she has good reason to hate me."

Orihime watched her sadly for a moment before looking around her room, "Where do you think she is right now?"

"I don't know." Tatsuki said. "She might be looking over someone special to her."

"She can't stay here forever." Orihime said.

"I know, I already talked to her about it and what could happen." Tatsuki said. "There's just a really complicated situation caused by her death so we're trying to fix everything before she passes on. I told her I'd help her with everything and I'll help her pass on."

"It's just like you to help someone in need." Orihime said warmly. "Even if it were a complete stranger, you'd just jump in to help."

"Yeah," Tatsuki said a little distantly. "This time it's a little more complicated then just a stranger. I'm partially to blame for the current situation."

"What's going on?" Orihime asked with a sad expression.

"I don't really want to talk about it right now." Tatsuki said. "It's a bit complicated and I don't even know where to begin."

Orihime gave her a sad and concerned look but dropped it all the same, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling a lot better now." Tatsuki said with a distant smile.

She was truthful but with the other situation on her mind she couldn't be overly happy right now. There was no denying that she was concerned about Chizuru now and she was more then worried about where Yasuko had taken off to. If something happened and she became a hollow the first person she would go after was Chizuru. That wouldn't be good and it would definitely assure that no solution would be found and Chizuru would continue to suffer. That was something Tatsuki didn't want to happen.

Tatsuki placed her hand on her forehead with a sigh as Orihime's concern visibly grew. "Am I a bad person?"

"No, you're a great person, Tatsuki." Orihime said. "Do you think you're not?"

"I'm not so sure anymore." Tatsuki replied sadly. "I was doing a lot of reflecting last night and some of the things I've done make me question the way I am and the way I treat people."

"Tatsuki, you're perfect just the way you are." Orihime said with a bright smile. "You shouldn't think otherwise. You are a wonderful person even if you don't think so."

Tatsuki sighed and looked at her ceiling, "I did a lot of bad things, Orihime. I don't want to do those things anymore. I want to be a better person."

"You already are a good person, Tatsuki." Orihime argued. "Why do you think you're not a good person?"

Tatsuki didn't reply as she thought about why everything was bothering her so much. It didn't make any sense to her at all. She didn't like Chizuru and she hardly even knew Yasuko so why was their opinion of her bothering her so much. Did what they say really bother her so much that she doubted her personality? Did it really get under her skin so much that it was causing her so much concern? There was absolutely no reason that this should even bother her at all and yet it did.

"This is really getting you down isn't it?" Orihime asked.

"It's just bringing a lot of things to my attention that I always overlooked but now that I'm really thinking about these things and I'm really realizing what my actions have done to others." Tatsuki said. "I don't want to be ignorant to what my actions do to others anymore. I want to be more aware of what I do to people, alive or dead."

Orihime placed her hand on Tatsuki's shoulder in comfort, "You can't please everyone, Tatsuki."

"I know that, I just don't want to overlook anyone again and I don't want to hurt anyone." Tatsuki said. "I had all the details of my actions yelled at me all last night. It's a wonder I didn't get too sick with all the stress and lack of sleep, though I did sleep almost all of today so I guess that helped with my fever."

"You don't have to worry about that, Tatsuki." Orihime said. "You are considerate of others. I don't think you have ever overlooked someone before."

"That's because it was never pointed out." Tatsuki said. "I'm not going to talk about it though. It's a little… odd."

"Tatsuki, the things that I can do are odd." Orihime said. "I doubt anything you could tell me would compare to what I can do."

"Well that's true." Tatsuki said.

"Then talk to me about it." Orihime persisted. "Then maybe I can help you with this."

"This has nothing to do with you though." Tatsuki said. "I don't get involved with your odd stuff so don't get involved in my odd stuff, alright? It will work out just fine."

"Tatsuki, you can't get involved in my stuff." Orihime said. "I could never put you in danger like that."

"Well same vice versa." Tatsuki said. "Just drop it."

Orihime pouted a bit but obliged as they fell silent once more. Orihime rested her arms and head on the side of the bed with a long sigh. Her disappointment was clear and making Tatsuki feel guilty about keeping her in the dark but telling her wouldn't be good right now. It had to stay quiet for the time being so she couldn't even tell Orihime about what was going on right now. Even Chizuru was being kept in the dark about what was really going on around her.

"How was school today?" Tatsuki asked. She was more curious as to what Chizuru's reaction was to the anonymous message then anything else but she'll take what Orihime says without prying into Chizuru's life.

"It was pretty boring." Orihime said. "There were a few absences in our class so we didn't do a lot of important things. It was mostly just a lot of reading since a lot of people seemed to catch a cold from yesterday's storm."

"Did Keigo show up?" Tatsuki asked. "He lent me his umbrella and ran home in the rain. I'm a little concerned about him now."

"No he stayed home also." Orihime said. "Why would he run home instead of going with you?"

"This is where it gets complicated." Tatsuki sighed. "On the way we ran into someone that didn't have an umbrella so Keigo ran home so I could walk the other person home and neither of us would get soaked. It was because of that that I was dragged into my current situation."

"Who was it?" Orihime asked curiously.

Tatsuki avoided her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, "It would be better if I didn't say. This is just a really delicate situation right now so it has to stay quiet. You know I'll tell you everything when I can."

"I know." Orihime said sadly. "Just don't keep me in the dark if you don't have to. When I kept you in the dark it was to keep you safe."

"I'm keeping you in the dark for both of their sake not mine." Tatsuki said sadly. "I don't like keeping things from you but this is necessary."

They fell into an awkward silence as they avoided the others eyes. The situation was just getting worse and worse for Tatsuki. She wasn't fond of keeping things from Orihime even with all the secrets that had been kept from her for months. They had talked about it and worked things out now the same sort of thing was happening between them but the sides had reversed and there was a lot less danger but danger could easily develop in the situation. Tatsuki had to be very cautious with this and couldn't let anything get out of hand more then it already was.

The silence was interrupted as Yasuko came into the room quickly. Tatsuki sat up at the urgency in her eyes, "What happened?"

She got no response as Yasuko went straight to the closet and opened it. Tatsuki got out of bed and went over immediately as her concern grew. She grabbed Yasuko by the arm as clothes were thrust at her, "Get dressed, I need you for something."

"What happened?" Tatsuki repeated herself.

Yasuko just looked past her at Orihime and said nothing to answer Tatsuki's question, "You must be Orihime. I've heard about you from a close 'friend'."

Orihime gave her a bit of an odd look as Tatsuki quickly got dressed. There was too much urgency in Yasuko's eyes for her to waste time with anymore questions. "I assume you're Yasuko, then. Tatsuki mentioned you were haunting her."

"Oh, what else has she said about me?" Yasuko asked while crossing her arms.

"Just that you two don't get along all the time." Orihime said with a smile.

"I see," Yasuko replied coolly before turning back to Tatsuki, who was just finishing up. "We have to go."

"Yeah, yeah but if I collapse I'm holding you responsible." Tatsuki said then looked over at Orihime. "Sorry, I have to take care of something. We'll talk later on tonight, I'll call you."

"Alright," Orihime said.

Yasuko left the room followed closely by Tatsuki and Orihime. As they got downstairs Tatsuki made her way to the front door as quietly as she could to avoid getting caught by her parents since there was no doubt that they knew she was sick. Their shoes were put on quickly and they left the house quietly. Tatsuki looked at Yasuko for direction or even an explanation of any kind. Yasuko said nothing just hurried down the street.

Tatsuki glanced over at Orihime and quickly said, "We'll talk later."

She just got a warm smile and a wave before she hurried down the street. When they were a few houses down the street Yasuko finally spoke up, "I had a bad feeling about Chizuru so I went to check on her to make sure everything was alright."

"And?" Tatsuki asked.

"She isn't looking too happy." Yasuko said.

"Isn't that to be expected?" Tatsuki asked.

"Yeah, but I don't like where she is right now." Yasuko said making Tatsuki look over. "She's by the river and I don't like the look in her eyes."

Tatsuki's eyes widened, "You idiot."

She began to run to the river as fast as she could. Her anger rose as she began to feel her cold affecting her once more. But even so she knew that she couldn't slow down now. If Chizuru really was that upset that she was even considering ending her own life then she couldn't risk being even a minute too late. Yasuko was right behind her, though she was more of floating then running, she was still having trouble keeping up with Tatsuki.

"I'm really glad that you're an athlete." Yasuko called from behind her but Tatsuki didn't try to respond. All her focus was on getting to Chizuru before it was too late while Yasuko continued her slight praise, "If you weren't then we might not make it in time."

Tatsuki pushed herself even more knowing full well that it wasn't good for her current lack of health but there was still a chance of being too late. There was still no reason that Tatsuki could find that should make her concern so high that she was so willing to jeopardize her health so much just for Chizuru but with the situation it didn't matter. If Chizuru did try something then she could only blame herself since she was the only person alive that knew about what was going on with the girl's life.

As she got to the river she slowed and looked to Yasuko for direction but found her looking around as well. Tatsuki did her best to control her breathing as she spoke, "Where did you see her last?"

"Over there." Yasuko said as she pointed over to the side of the bridge.

Tatsuki didn't waste any time in running over and down the hill to get to the riverside. Yasuko followed her down as they both looked in a separate direction. They came to a stop at the bottom of the hill and looked around frantically for any sign of Chizuru. Yasuko gripped Tatsuki's wrist making her look over. Before her eyes even landed on the ghost she spotted Chizuru and she was running over to her.

She was looking even worse then she had the other day and she was too close to the water for Tatsuki's liking. Once more she didn't announce her presence but more from lack of breath and energy then any thought of frightening Chizuru. She hadn't even been noticed as Chizuru's back was to her as she stared off into the river. Tatsuki slowed considerably as she got closer to her.

There was surprisingly no hesitation as she grabbed Chizuru and held her close in the tightest and most protective embrace she could manage. She rested her head on Chizuru's shoulder as she tried desperately to catch her breath. It came in jagged chokes as she was barely even able to speak, "Don't… you dare… ever…"

That was all she was able to say as her grip tightened a little. Chizuru turned as much as she could, which wasn't much, as she spoke, "Tatsuki, what are you doing?"

Her words were quivered with a scared nervousness. She was answered with a shake of the head and nothing more as the embrace became more of a cling as Tatsuki's cold got even worse and everything around her began to spin. She smirked a little as she spoke, "Crap."

"Are you okay, Tatsuki?" She asked with pure concern as she turned even more. "You're face is really red."

"I ran here from home." Tatsuki said. "I knew something was up so I came looking for you."

She released Chizuru and fell to the ground with an exhausted pant. Chizuru watched her with growing concern as she crouched down in front of Tatsuki, "What made you think something was wrong?"

Tatsuki shook her head, "You wouldn't even begin to believe me."

Chizuru gave her an odd look, "Try me."

Tatsuki avoided her eyes as she felt Yasuko's hand fall on her shoulder, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Tatsuki didn't respond to Yasuko but looked further away from Chizuru as she spoke, "I can't tell you. There's no way you would even believe me and I have no way to prove it to you."

Chizuru raised an eyebrow stating her disbelief while Yasuko smirked beside her, "You're a coward, but thanks for not saying anything yet."

Tatsuki nodded a little catching Chizuru's attention, "Are you alright, Tatsuki? You don't look good at all."

"Of course not, running here like this made my cold worse." Tatsuki said as she fell back to the ground with a bit of a groan.

"You're sick?!" Chizuru exclaimed. "What the hell is wrong with you? What if you got worse?"

Tatsuki just smirked, "What would have happened if I didn't show up when I did?"

Chizuru fell silent and looked away with a sad expression making Tatsuki's small smirk fade away, "You can't complain then."

"Why?" Chizuru asked as tears welled in her eyes. "You hate me so why are you here? Why are you pretending to care about me?"

Tatsuki gave her a sad look, "You have it wrong, Chizuru. I'm not pretending to care about you."

Chizuru looked at her as a few tears rolled down her cheek. Yasuko immediately went to take Chizuru in her arms but stopped as she realized that she couldn't. She looked completely broken at her inability to do anything for her cousin. A frown formed on Tatsuki's face as she slowly sat up and wiped away the tears on Chizuru's face for Yasuko. She did her best to hold a warm smile while she did so to help put Chizuru at ease as much as possible.

When her tears were wiped away Tatsuki's smile warmed before she fell back to the ground with a sigh, "So what are you doing around here anyways?"

"I was just walking around to try and clear my mind and ended up here." Chizuru said sadly. "I figured this would be a good place to think."

"About dying?" Tatsuki asked sadly. "You're not as alone as you think, Chizuru."

She looked away with a bit of anger as if finally recalling how little the two of them actually got along, "What do you care?"

Tatsuki averted her eyes and looked at Yasuko who held a mixed look of concern and curiosity as to what Tatsuki would say in response. She let out a sigh and looked even further away before she responded, "I'll be perfectly honest, I don't even know how to respond to that. I'm just doing what I feel that I have to. There is no other reason for my actions that I can think of."

Chizuru looked completely taken aback while Yasuko just shook her head with a smile, "You moron."

Chizuru smiled warmly down at Tatsuki, who just closed her eyes as everything around her was spinning too much for her growing headache. She let out a sigh as she covered her eyes with her arm to try and block everything out. There was no doubt in her mind that she was even worse now then when she woke up this morning. "I need to get back to bed."

She felt herself being pulled up by Chizuru and there was an extra set of hands on her back to subtly assist with the weight. All the movement just made her headache even worse. As Chizuru tried to pull her to her feet Tatsuki just pulled away from her. She needed to let this pass so she wouldn't collapse as soon as she got to her feet. She buried her face in her hands with a long and painful sigh, "I just need to sit here for a moment."

Chizuru sat next to Tatsuki and rubbed her back with a bit of a smirk, "This is another first."

Tatsuki didn't respond as she tried to relax so her body could calm down and she could get to bed sooner and get the rest that she needs to get. As time went by she began to feel a little better so she removed her hands from her face. She winced at the light as if it hurt and made no motion to get up as she looked across the river, "Why would you want to end your life?"

"Why should I keep living? The only people that actually cared about me are gone now and I'll never see them again." Chizuru said sadly.

"You're an idiot." Tatsuki said. "I'm here, right?"

Chizuru looked over at her with a slight look of shock making Tatsuki look over at her, "Why is it that whenever I say something nice to you, you always look like it's a complete shock?"

"It's because you're the one that's saying it." Chizuru said. "I never thought you could be nice to me, it's weird."

"Should I not be nice then?" Tatsuki asked. "If you want I can go back to being a prick."

Chizuru fell silent and avoided her eyes so Tatsuki brought her gaze back across the river, "I actually don't think I'd be able to be like that again. Not after yesterday."

"I don't need your pity." Chizuru said.

"No, but do you want my friendship?" Tatsuki asked. "If not we could just go on hating each other but if you need someone to talk to then I wouldn't mind being that person for you."

"You are really starting to freak me out." Chizuru said. "Are you sure the lightning didn't fry your brain?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Tatsuki laughed. "I don't know, maybe it's just this cold but I wouldn't mind spending more time with you as long as you don't be an idiot."

"Wow, you really are sick." Chizuru said and placed her wrist on Tatsuki's forehead. It lingered for only a short moment before it was pulled away, "I take that back, you're burning up really bad, Tatsuki. You should see a doctor."

Yasuko sighed from beside them, "And after all the effort I put in to nursing you back to health."

Tatsuki did her best to remain silent though she wanted to yell at Yasuko for dragging her out here in the first place. But if she did that would just put her in a really bad spot with both of them considering what Chizuru was about to do. Even if she did stop Chizuru from doing something stupid it came at a price that she wasn't exactly willing to pay. This was just getting worse and worse for her much to her displeasure though she was at least happy that she wasn't completely helpless in this situation.

She slowly started to get up making her feel lightheaded. Chizuru was up before her and took both her arms to help and support her. Tatsuki looked at her a little surprised but smiled all the same, "Thanks, Chizuru."

There was a slight blush that formed on her face, "No problem, do you need help getting home?"

Tatsuki was very hesitant as she spoke, "I guess."

"I won't enter if you don't want me to." Chizuru said. "But if you don't want me to know where you live I can always just help you to the clinic."

Tatsuki's face paled immediately, "I'm not going there."

She just got a confused look before her arm was slung around Chizuru's shoulder for extra support. Tatsuki caught a slight smirk from Yasuko before she was brought towards the hill beside the bridge. Their pace was slow as each step made Tatsuki's headache even worse. The hill was the worst part for her but at least Yasuko had her hands on her back to hold her up in case she fell. Her guilt rose at how she could hardly even walk and needed someone to carry her.

At this point in her sickness though she could probably have a conversation with Yasuko and not have Chizuru raising too many questions about it, as long as no name was said on Tatsuki's part. Though it was still unlikely to happen since Tatsuki wasn't in the mood to talk with either of them out of the slight fear it would only make things worse. Fortunately for her neither one of them seemed like they were about to start a conversation anytime soon.

They walked down the street in complete silence as they were led on more by Yasuko then Tatsuki since she was just walking and nothing more as she didn't want to concentrate on anything at all. As they continued she faintly noticed Yasuko lean over her shoulder a little so she could whisper, "I'm sorry for making this so difficult for you but thank you for going to Chizuru like you did. I'll nurse you back to health and I won't ask anymore from you. When you're back in good health I'll pass on and stop bothering you."

"Don't worry about it." Tatsuki muttered. "You don't have to go."

Chizuru gave Tatsuki a worried look as she believed her to be delirious from her cold but didn't say anything about it as her worry only visibly grew. The only one to really notice was, of course, Yasuko, who in turn pushed Tatsuki a little more so she could get to bed quicker to ease her cousin's concern a little. In quickening the pace, however, only made Chizuru's worry grow as she feared Tatsuki was pushing herself too much while not knowing that she already had to get to her in time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

5 A New Look on Things

Tatsuki was once more resting on her bed while Yasuko lingered at her desk but now it was Chizuru by her side in deep concern. There was nothing that she could do for Tatsuki as she laid there panting excessively as her cold took a bad turn. Her mother had called the nearby clinic as soon as she saw Tatsuki walking in. She was still awake while a cold compress was placed on her forehead to cool her fever.

There was no conversation at all as Tatsuki just watched the ceiling while waiting for Ichigo's dad to come over, though he was pretty busy since a lot of people seemed to have caught a cold because of the storm. She was a little grateful that she would be able to rest a little before he came over. Chizuru had barely said anything at all since she entered Tatsuki's house. The only time she spoke was to her parents in a poor attempt at an explanation.

She was getting more concerned by the minute and both Tatsuki and Yasuko knew it but the spirit refused to voice her anger as her guilt outweighed it. There was only silence in the room as Tatsuki didn't even know what to say to Chizuru while she couldn't say anything about this situation. Though she at least did try to make conversation, "Tatsuki, the way you've been acting since yesterday has been really weird and not like you at all. Is everything alright?"

"Not really." Tatsuki answered truthfully.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Chizuru offered.

"I don't even know how to." Tatsuki replied with a bit of a smirk. "You wouldn't even understand or believe most of it."

"Try me." Chizuru said.

"Alright, I have absolutely no reason or want to help you out with you're situation but a part of me can't let you stay like this and it doesn't help that I'm being dragged around by a nagging voice when I've got a bad cold." Tatsuki said with a slight laugh. "Heck, I'm even being told what to say and do when I have no idea how to cheer you up."

Chizuru gave her a strange look of doubt as Tatsuki continued, "It was this same nagging voice that told me to go find you before and it even led me to you. It hasn't told me what to say today but it's only a matter of time before it does again because I have no idea what to say to you right now."

"When you say a 'voice' are you admitting to hearing things?" Chizuru asked.

"I'm not hearing things." Tatsuki said. "I can't even begin to explain this without you hitting me and calling me twisted."

"I highly doubt I'd call you 'twisted', Tatsuki and there is no way I'd hit you." Chizuru said. "I couldn't do that to you because I was honestly going to do it before you showed up."

"Then let's just call the voice 'divine intervention'." Tatsuki said.

"I'd rather not." Chizuru said as she looked away. "I don't believe in ghosts or any of that stuff."

"You should." Tatsuki said. "That stuff is actually real."

"I'll believe it if you prove it." Chizuru said.

Tatsuki shrugged and said, "Fine."

She pulled the pillow out from under her head and threw it at Yasuko, who stepped out of the way with a bit of a dark look, "I don't want her knowing about any of this just yet, Tatsuki. We both know she won't believe you and it will only cause more problems."

"And this won't?" Tatsuki asked.

"Well it will now that you're talking to yourself." Yasuko said angrily. "Just shut up about this stuff around her and stick to your original plan."

Tatsuki fell silent in her anger as she looked up at the ceiling once more. She did her best to ignore the strange look she was getting from Chizuru right now, "You really are sick aren't you?"

"I'm fine." Tatsuki said angrily.

"You're hallucinating." Chizuru said.

Tatsuki didn't respond in her anger since she knew she would just regret it later on. She turned her gaze to the wall as she wanted the subject to change, "Why don't you believe in ghosts or spirits?"

"Because there's no way it could be real." Chizuru said immediately. "There is nothing after death and there is no such thing as 'divine intervention'. It's all just a bunch of superstition."

"Are you saying that nothing has ever happened to you that you couldn't believe or even explain?" Tatsuki asked as she looked over at Chizuru once more hoping for some sort of reaction of the anonymous message she should have got at noon. "Hasn't there ever been something that just suddenly happened that had a major effect on you or your life?"

"The only thing I can think of was just a coincidence." Chizuru said.

"How so?" Tatsuki asked.

"That 'little voice' you hear is completely made up to make me feel better. You were just in the area earlier weren't you and you saw me by the river." Chizuru said. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out what I was planning to do."

"Chizuru, you can visibly see how sick I am right now and you had to bring me back here." Tatsuki said. "Do you honestly believe I was out for a walk? I even ran to where you were and I was exhausted when I got to you so don't just pass it off as a coincidence. What's the next thing you're going to blow off?"

Chizuru avoided her eyes and said nothing. Tatsuki's anger grew a little as she spoke, "Chizuru, what else has happened in your life that you can't explain?"

"Someone messaged me today at lunch but I can't trace it." Chizuru said nervously. "But it has nothing to do with 'divine intervention'. It's just some creep that wants to mess with me."

"What's the message?" Tatsuki asked angrily.

"I don't want to talk about it." Chizuru said as tears rolled down her cheeks. "It was just a sick tasteless joke that someone got off on."

Tatsuki's eyes widened a little as her guilt rose. She had never expected her to react to the message badly. It had seemed like a good idea at the time but it had just made things worse. She faintly noticed Yasuko go to the door and she said nothing to stop her as the door opened and closed. Chizuru turned but saw nothing there. "It was probably just my dad going in another room."

Chizuru nodded distantly as her tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Tatsuki reached over to wipe them away only to be refused immediately. "It really upset you didn't it?"

"You have no idea what it's like to get that after losing someone really close to you." Chizuru said bitterly.

"Is that what made you want to end things?" Tatsuki asked hesitantly.

Chizuru didn't respond as she looked away making Tatsuki's eyes widen. She sat up immediately while tossing the cold compress aside to pull Chizuru into a tight embrace. Chizuru seemed a little less phased by it this time since it wasn't the first hug she had gotten from Tatsuki. It was probably around the tenth hug and they were almost always immediate when there were tears. It was odd yet comforting for Chizuru since she was still not used to niceties coming from Tatsuki but it was nice to know she cared.

Her tears didn't last too long and soon Tatsuki was letting her go with a bit of a warm smile. Those, however, were still fairly odd to get as they seemed to be less and less forced the more they were shown. The thought of Tatsuki being nice was still fairly strange for Chizuru but in her vulnerability she accepted it gratefully though if things weren't falling apart around her and this were to happen then she wouldn't go anywhere close to her former tormenter.

She had come to realize that Tatsuki hadn't lightened up as she said she would but had stopped altogether and even showed sympathy and concern instead of resentment and hatred. It was as if something had happened to her that she wasn't speaking of at all. This thought was concerning to her but her fear of Tatsuki prevented her from asking about it but with the knowledge of her sudden change in attitude and her cold gave Chizuru the courage to ask, "Tatsuki, if anything bad happened to you would you open up to me about it?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly run to you about it but yeah if it was really affecting me then I guess I would." Tatsuki said. "It's only fair right, since you're opening up to me I should be doing the same."

"But I'm not opening up to you at all." Chizuru said somewhat sadly.

"That's just from a lack of trust and I don't blame you." Tatsuki said. "I know you'll talk about it when you're ready and until then I'll be waiting."

Chizuru smiled warmly, "I do trust you, Tatsuki. You're really stepping up like you said you would and it means a lot to me. I don't even know how to explain it."

"Then don't, I understand." Tatsuki said with another warm smile. "If you ever need a shoulder to cry on or someone to talk to or even just someone to listen I'm here for you alright?"

Tears rolled down Chizuru's cheeks once more but before Tatsuki could even try to hold her she was pulled into a tight embrace. This was new for them since Tatsuki had always done the holding and never been held so she was a little hesitant in returning the embrace. They held each other tightly as Chizuru's tears wouldn't let up. Tatsuki let out a slight sigh, "Can we get a bit more comfortable, Chizuru?"

She immediately released Tatsuki and tried to get away only to be stopped, "Chizuru, I don't mind if you need to cry. You can cry on my shoulder whenever you need to. I'd just prefer if we did it comfortably."

"But you're sick right now." Chizuru said. "I'm already putting you through enough right now."

"Don't worry about it." Tatsuki said. "You need to cry right now and it's not like I'm going to magically get better so we'll start with your tears then we'll focus on my health."

"I still couldn't do that." Chizuru protested.

"What if we do it while I'm lying down?" Tatsuki suggested. "That way I'm resting and you're crying. But if you do anything perverted I'm kicking you out."

"Why would I do anything to _you_?" Chizuru said snidely. "We already went over this, I don't like you in that way."

"Yeah, yeah," Tatsuki said trying to hide her smirk. The way Chizuru snuggled up in her embrace gave her away last night and she still snuggled up in any form of embrace. There was also the occasional light blush that was another give away. It would never be pointed out since it was one sided and Chizuru had enough to deal with right now.

Tatsuki laid back down on the bed and waited for Chizuru to do something but what she did she didn't really expect. Chizuru smiled and got off the chair before going across the room to retrieve the pillow. She brought it back and placed it for Tatsuki before placing the cold compress on her forehead once more with a loving look in her eyes that she couldn't hide as much as she may have tried. Tatsuki wondered if she was even aware of the look as she climbed onto the bed and laid down on her side.

She was held immediately and she automatically got comfortable as Tatsuki stroked her back to put her at ease, "Start talking about it."

There was a faint nod but no other response for awhile, "Yasuko, my cousin, has known about the way I am since I first figured it out. She always listened to me when I was upset or I had a problem so she was the only person I really trusted with it. When I told her she was a little confused but she still accepted it instead of judging me about it like everyone else did. No matter what happened or how I was she still accepted me and treated me like I was normal.

"No one else understood that I was just another person with feelings. Just because I was different everyone treated me like I was a freak but she never once did. Yasuko meant everything to me even after she got engaged but even her fiancée seemed to except me for who I was, though he didn't except me in the same way. He just didn't let it bother him because he was marrying my cousin and he knew how close we were. He was nice even though he didn't like me all that much.

"Whenever I fell for someone she would always be really excited for me and when I got rejected she'd always be right there for me to cheer me up. Every time something went wrong in my life she was there to tell me everything would be okay and that it would all work out. But now that she's gone…" She hesitated as her sob became too much for her to hold in. "Now that she's gone I have no one to talk to about these things. Now there's no one that accepts me as a person. Now the only people I know hate me for something I can't even control."

Tatsuki let her cry for a long time so she could get it all out before she was comforted, "You're wrong about a few things, Chizuru. You have me to talk to about your problems, I accept you as a person, and I don't hate you for any reason that you can think of."

Chizuru's grip tightened on Tatsuki's shirt significantly as she cried even more. Tatsuki held her as protectively as she could without her grip being too tight on her. There was no more talking as Chizuru completely let out her tears and all her sadness. It had only happened two days ago but she cried like she held it in for much longer then that. Towards the end of her breakdown Yasuko let herself in quietly and rushed over in a slight panic only to be reassured with a smile.

"Is she letting it all out?" Yasuko asked.

Tatsuki faintly nodded in response not wanting to disturb Chizuru's tears in any way. All she wanted was for Chizuru to move on and be happy again. She wasn't used to how quiet and depressed Chizuru was lately and it was just completely wrong in Tatsuki's eyes even with the girl's vulnerability. It was understandable but still wrong for her to show this side of her so much. She didn't want it to be shown so freely but rather secretly so it would give people a little less of a reason to bully her. If she could she would protect her from others but she couldn't do that.

Finally after a long time Chizuru lifted herself from Tatsuki's shoulder. Her eyes were completely red from crying but she still held a warm smile and a blush that was deeper then it usually was. Tatsuki smiled up at her, "How do you feel now?"

"I feel a lot better now, thank you for that." Chizuru said warmly.

"Anytime you need to talk or cry, I'm here for you." Tatsuki said warmly.

"Do you mind if I…" She trailed off nervously as her blush worsened and she looked away. "Could I lay with you for a bit longer? It's just really comforting."

"No." Tatsuki denied immediately. "I'm joking, it's fine."

She pulled Chizuru back down with a bit of a laugh though she caught the hurt look on her face. It was a bad joke but it was that or a comment on the obvious blush on Chizuru's face. Tatsuki chose to make the bad joke and hurt her a little then make a really awkward situation. A bad choice, perhaps, but at least she understood that Chizuru was denying any feeling that she held towards her.

Tatsuki smirked a little as Chizuru snuggled up to her and she could practically feel the girls blush on her shoulder even through her long sleeve shirt. She closed her eyes and tried to relax as she did her best to deal with the heat of her body as well as Chizuru's without making it too obvious. She didn't want Chizuru to worry any more then she already was. Tatsuki's body began to feel lighter for her convincing her that her cold was taking another bad turn.

Tatsuki slowly opened her eyes and found everything dark and quiet. There was no light in her room and everything was silent. She glanced over at the faint glow of her digital clock, it was two in the morning. She let out a sigh as she sat up slowly. Her throat was sore most likely from heavy breathing and a lack of liquids. She hadn't had anything to drink or eat that day.

She got out of her bed slowly while taking another look around her room for any sign of a ghost but her room was empty and Yasuko was likely at Chizuru's right now. It was a little upsetting that she had wanted to move on already. Tatsuki knew it was for the best but she wasn't ready to be on her own with Chizuru just yet and it was obvious that they still needed some closure. Even with the slight danger of the situation Yasuko couldn't pass on yet, not until everything has been settled.

Tatsuki left her room as quietly as she could and crept down to the kitchen to get a drink and possibly something to eat. When she got to her kitchen she turned on the stove light and went to one of the cupboards for any type of medicine that might help with her cold, which was currently in hibernation. She went through everything while trying to remain as quiet as possible. The only sound made was the slight rattle of pills and the loud grumble of her stomach.

Her body stiffened as she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders pulling her away from the counter. She glanced over and found Yasuko standing behind her. There was concern in her voice as she spoke, "You should still be resting, Tatsuki."

"My cold's hibernating so I'm taking advantage of that to eat something." Tatsuki said quietly. "I haven't had anything to eat or drink at all since this damned cold started."

"Then relax and I'll take care of it." Yasuko said as she brought Tatsuki to the kitchen table.

She went to the counter and went through the medicine. It wasn't long before she went back to Tatsuki with a bottle and handed it to her. Tatsuki shrugged without really looking at it as she opened it and took a mouthful straight from the bottle. Her reaction to it was immediate as she winced at the taste and a shiver went through her body. She closed the bottle and handed it back to Yasuko who was trying to hide a laugh, "That was the best reaction to medicine that I've ever seen."

"I'm glad I can amuse you." Tatsuki said as Yasuko went back to the counter.

She placed everything back in the open cupboard and closed it before looking back over at Tatsuki, "Where do you keep the soup and pots?"

"The pots are in the cabinet by the stove and the soup is in the far cupboard near the window." Tatsuki said. "Everything else you'll need is in the drawer by the sink."

"Alright," Yasuko said and she got everything she needed ready then started the water for the soup. They remained silent for awhile until the water boiled before Yasuko glanced over at Tatsuki once more, "I assume miso soup will be fine?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Tatsuki said. "Thanks for all this."

"Don't thank me for this." Yasuko said sadly. "Your sickness is my fault after all."

"And Chizuru still being alive right now is also because of you." Tatsuki said. "This cold is one hell of a price to pay but I'll deal with it. I've already decided to do what I can to help Chizuru so this is nothing, besides I could use a break from school."

"Opportunist," Yasuko said with a smirk. "At least you're still doing something good."

"Don't call me an opportunist when you're using me to reach out to Chizuru." Tatsuki said.

"No, when you're back in good health I'll pass on." Yasuko said sadly. "I'm causing you too much trouble as it is. I trust you to do what's right for Chizuru."

"Even if you do trust me, I don't want you to move on just yet." Tatsuki said. "I want her to know that you're still here for her so I'm not just a substitute. She needs to move on not just try to forget about it."

"You don't need me for that." Yasuko said sadly. "You're doing fine without my help."

Tatsuki watched her sadly, "This is about how she reacted to your message isn't it?"

Yasuko didn't respond instead her posture just slumped as she continued to stir the soup. Tatsuki's concern for her grew as their silence continued. It wasn't long before Yasuko turned the stove off and took the pot off the hot burner and placed it on a cooler one to let it cool. "Where are the bowls?"

"They're in the cupboard to your left." Tatsuki said.

Yasuko went to the cupboard and retrieved a bowl then went back to the stove to fill it. She let out a long sigh before bringing the bowl over to the table and placed it in front of Tatsuki. She sat down on the opposite side of the table with a continued silence and avoided looking at Tatsuki completely. "You know I never thought I'd be served by a ghost."

"I never thought I'd die at the age of 25 and have to continue looking out for Chizuru through you." Yasuko replied sadly.

"We can't predict the future." Tatsuki said. "Some things just have to happen that we have no control over. All we can do is accept it and move on."

"Yeah," Yasuko said sadly. "I just wish it didn't happen so soon. It would have been better if it was a week later."

"Why just a week?"Tatsuki asked.

"Chizuru's birthday is this Sunday." Yasuko said. "It's going to be her sweet sixteen but I won't be there for her."

"No, you will." Tatsuki said with determination. "I'll beat this cold by Saturday and we'll both go get her something then we'll surprise her on Sunday morning. That's when we'll tell her that you're still here. I don't know how we'll prove it but I'll think of something."

"Do you think she'll believe you?" Yasuko asked skeptically.

"I'll tell her something that only you would know." Tatsuki said.

"Do you think that would really do anything?" Yasuko asked.

"It will after we give her something that you pick out for her." Tatsuki said. "I know she won't believe it at first but if we sit her down and she at least listens to us then she might. I just have to say something that will get her attention and I'm sure she'll hear us out."

"What if she doesn't?" Yasuko asked with pure concern radiating through her voice.

"She will." Tatsuki said as she began eating the soup.

"What makes you so sure?" Yasuko asked.

"Because you know more about her then anyone else does so we just have to bring some of that stuff up and I'm sure everything will be fine." Tatsuki replied. "This soup is amazing by the way."

Yasuko smiled at the compliment, "How much thought have you put into this?"

"None," Tatsuki admitted. "But I saw an old American movie that has a similar situation awhile back."

"How'd that work out?" Yasuko asked.

"The two were reunited for a short time to say goodbye then the guy passed on." Tatsuki said. "I'm not expecting you to pass on right away. You can hang around for as long as you want as long as you don't turn into a hollow. I don't really mind you being around anymore."

"Here's the maturity again." Yasuko laughed.

"Yeah, well you're not exactly as protective of Chizuru anymore or hating me completely." Tatsuki said. "When you were taking care of me you weren't as angry as you were before when I was at Chizuru's house. It's like you don't hate me as much anymore just like I don't really hate Chizuru anymore."

"What made you hate her in the first place?" Yasuko asked. "What did she ever do to you?"

"She did absolutely nothing to me." Tatsuki admitted. "She just always went after Orihime and she's my best friend. I wouldn't mind if she just had a thing for her but the way she goes about it is just wrong. Everyday it's the same thing, she see's Orihime and then she's all over her in an instant and groping her."

"Chizuru always called it 'fondling'." Yasuko said with a slight laugh. "After meeting Orihime briefly I can understand her reasoning a little. She was definitely cute."

Tatsuki gave her an irritated look but continued eating the soup, "Don't talk about her like that. Orihime's like a sister to me so I hate when people talk about her like that."

Yasuko smiled over at her, "You only think of her as a sister?"

"Yeah," Tatsuki said. "Why does everyone assume I'm into girls?"

"You're a tomboy and clearly protective over other girls." Yasuko said simply. "I've also seen the way you hold Chizuru when she's upset."

"I'm just trying to cheer her up when she's upset." Tatsuki said. "I don't like seeing my friends upset. That's all there is to it."

"No one likes to see people they care about upset." Yasuko said. "I'm lucky that I don't have to see Chizuru upset for too long when you're around. Needless to say, I'm very grateful to you for being her friend. You really stick to your word once you give it."

"That's just how I am." Tatsuki said.

"It's a good trait to have." Yasuko said fondly. "It's funny, the more time we spend together the more I understand why Chizuru has feelings for you. I'm glad you're going to be around for her."

"Nothing's going to happen between us." Tatsuki said. "How many times do I have to say that?"

"Oh, just until it becomes convincing." Yasuko said with a sly smile.

Tatsuki gave her a bit of a dark look before going back to the soup in silence. She did really like the taste of it. It reminded her of when she was younger and whenever she caught a bad cold her mother would always take a sick day from work and nurse her back to health. This cold was far worse then any she had ever had in the past and this was the best attention she had gotten in a long time since as she got older she became more capable of taking care of herself.

When she finished her meal Yasuko took the bowl and went to refill it at the stove in silence. As she finished there was a creak coming from the stairway making Tatsuki get up immediately to take the bowl of soup from Yasuko so it wouldn't be seen floating. That would raise too many questions that would be very difficult to answer and even begin to explain.

As she retrieved the bowl from Yasuko she immediately turned to go back to the table. Just as she sat down her mother came into the kitchen. She gave her daughter a very confused look, "Tatsuki what on earth are you doing? It's 2:30 in the morning."

"I was hungry since I didn't get to eat yesterday and since my cold had died down I figured I'd get something to drink but when I got down her I decided to have soup since it would go down and settle easily." Tatsuki said. "I want to get better as fast as I can."

"Then you should be resting right now and not eating." She said.

"I know but I have to eat sometime." Tatsuki said. "And since I woke up I figured that I might as well eat now so I'm not overeating in the morning."

"Just hurry up and go back to bed." Her mother stressed. "And while you're up be sure to take some medicine."

"That was the first thing I did, mom." Tatsuki said. "I want to lose this cold as soon as I can. It's a friend's birthday on Sunday and I want to be able to go over."

"Don't make your health even worse to make someone else happy." She said.

"I know, I'm going to beat this cold before then." Tatsuki said with complete determination.

"You shouldn't push yourself too hard." She said. "Isshin said you should just take it easy for a few days and just ride it out. If you do too much it will only get worse."

"It will pass sooner then a few days." Tatsuki reassured. "I've slept pretty much all of yesterday."

"Then you went for a run." She said. "Honestly that was just stupid of you."

"Yeah, yeah I don't need a lecture." Tatsuki said. "You should go back to sleep, mom. You have to get up in a couple hours and you have that big meeting. Go relax and try not to worry so much about me. I'll be fine."

"Go to bed when you're done eating." She said. "Goodnight, Tatsuki."

She left the kitchen and went back up the stairs as Yasuko followed her out. It wasn't long before she came back with a bit of a sigh, "That was pretty close, huh?"

"Yeah," Tatsuki laughed. "We definitely have to be more careful around the house."

"Yeah, but she was right." Yasuko said. "Eat up and try to get some more rest."

"I'm not really tired." Tatsuki said. "I slept too much yesterday. Maybe I'll do a bit of studying since that always puts me to sleep."

"Are you aware that I used to be a high school counselor?" Yasuko asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know." Tatsuki said. "Uh, I'm a little curious but, did Chizuru have anything to do with that being your career path?"

"Good guess." Yasuko said. "She did have a big influence on it."

"It makes a lot of sense since you were always there for her." Tatsuki said with a warm smile. "I can almost see her suggesting it to you."

"She never suggested it to me though." Yasuko said. "Well, she did say I should help people but high school counselor seemed a bit more fitting since she would be at that age when I finished all my schooling anyways. I figured it would give me a bit of a leg up on any situation she could be in."

"So you took advantage of your position for her benefit?" Tatsuki asked with a laugh. "That's pretty funny."

"I never took advantage of it I just learned from it." Yasuko argued. "There was one student in particular that really reminded me of Chizuru except she wasn't as proud of how she was compared to Chizuru."

"Could anyone be that proud of themselves?" Tatsuki asked. "If they could then I'd be amazed."

"Some people are proud of themselves while others aren't and some are even in denial." Yasuko said. "The ones that are in denial are always in for a rude awakening."

Tatsuki gave her a bit of an odd look before beginning to eat the soup that was becoming cold. She ate it quickly to avoid it getting any colder and to avoid any more conversation. When she got halfway though she glanced up at Yasuko and asked, "How was she? You went to see her again right?"

"Yeah," Yasuko said a bit distantly. "She seems like she's a lot happier now but as soon as she got home her bad mood just returned. When she gets home reality starts to sink in. It was hard to see her smile just vanish the instant she walked in. It doesn't help that her parents still haven't returned from their visit to pay their respect yet."

"When were they supposed to be back?" Tatsuki asked.

"Since it's only an hour drive and they have important jobs they should have been back on Wednesday or yesterday." Yasuko said. "With the storm on Wednesday I can understand why they didn't return but yesterday there wasn't much of an excuse."

"That must be pretty hard on Chizuru." Tatsuki said sadly. "She must feel pretty left behind right now."

"She felt that way when they left without her." Yasuko said. "I meant too much to her so being left behind must have been devastating."

"Yeah, that's probably why she was in such a bad mood on Wednesday." Tatsuki said. "She didn't even give Orihime any attention."

"She must have been really bad then." Yasuko said. "No wonder she's so happy with you right now. You must have shown up at the best time for her."

"Was that yesterday or on Wednesday?" Tatsuki asked.

"I'd like to think it was on both days." Yasuko said with a smile.

"Yeah," Tatsuki agreed with a smile. "Me too."

Their smiles warmed as they kept eye contact for a short time before Tatsuki went back to eating the soup. They returned to their silence as Yasuko left the table to clean up. Everything was done in silence and as Tatsuki finished the last of the soup Yasuko was already standing beside her to take the empty bowl from her and bring it to the sink to rinse it. Tatsuki felt bad about having everything done for her by someone that was supposed to dislike her even though it was clear that the hatred had passed.

"You're doing too much for me, Yasuko." Tatsuki said sadly. "You don't have to do all of this."

"You're looking out for Chizuru and taking care of her now." Yasuko replied. "This is the least I can do."

Tatsuki just frowned as she got up from the table and pushed her chair in quietly. The two went back up to Tatsuki's room as quietly as they could so they wouldn't disturb her parents as they slept. When they got back to the room Yasuko went to the desk and Tatsuki went to her bed. Neither said anything to each other as Tatsuki laid down and looked up at the ceiling once more. It was a long time before she fell asleep but there were no words between them as if Yasuko wasn't there.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

6 The Surprise

Tatsuki took in a bit of a nervous breath before knocking on the door. She had done what she had resolved to do. She beat her cold by Saturday and went out with Yasuko to get Chizuru a birthday present, which was hidden from sight inside a backpack for now, as well as her favorite type of cake. The two decided it would be a better surprise if it was brought up later. Tatsuki planned on waiting until Chizuru was comfortable with the sudden visit before bringing things up with her.

It wasn't long before Chizuru opened the door and as soon as she saw Tatsuki standing there her face shown with shock and disbelief. Tatsuki smirked at her reaction, "Surprise."

"Tatsuki, what are you doing here?" Chizuru asked.

"Something told me you didn't really want to be alone today." Tatsuki said with a slight laugh.

"Yeah," Chizuru said distantly.

"So are we just going to stand here or can I come in?" Tatsuki asked as she scratched the back of her head while trying not to be too amused with the situation.

"Oh, yeah sorry I was just a little surprised." Chizuru said as she moved away from the door to let Tatsuki in.

Tatsuki was greeted immediately by Chizuru's 'disloyal' dog as it jumped up on her to beg for some attention. She obliged with a smile as she scratched behind its ear. It wasn't long before Chizuru pulled him off of her so she could take off her shoes. Once her shoes were off she was jumped on again by the hyper dog. Tatsuki couldn't help but smile, "Your dog is completely different when it's a nice day."

"Yeah, it's a little funny." Chizuru said. "You can leave your bag here if you want."

"Nah, I'll keep it with me." Tatsuki said. "I don't really want your dog to try and get at it."

"He'll be downstairs with us so he won't get into it." Chizuru said.

"I'd still rather not." Tatsuki said nervously. "For... um, let's just say _awkward_ reasons."

Chizuru was silent for a moment before saying, "Oh, right, got it."

She tapped her side quickly getting her dog's attention before leading Tatsuki in so they could go to the basement. Yasuko chuckled from behind her, "Awkward reasons? You couldn't come up with anything better then that?"

Tatsuki gave her a bit of an impatient look as she followed Chizuru and for the first time took in her home. It was average and a little messy leading Tatsuki to conclude that Chizuru's parents still haven't come home yet. They went to the basement with no words between them though Yasuko was still laughing at Tatsuki's poor excuse for keeping her bag with her but it was all she could come up with on the spot. She had planned everything except an excuse for why she had the bag with her since she couldn't exactly come out and say it had a present and a cake inside of it.

They went to the couch and sat down but a little closer then the last time as there was no fear or anger between them though Tatsuki was a little angry at Yasuko for laughing at her. Tatsuki had her bag beside her as the dog was curiously sniffing it as he smelt the cake inside it. "He's a little curious."

"People don't usually come over so it's a new scent for him." Chizuru said with a slight laugh. "He'll stop when he gets used to the smell."

"I somehow doubt that." Tatsuki said a little bluntly.

"Why's that?" Chizuru asked.

She ignored the question and the eager look on Yasuko's face as she waited for another on the spot excuse. Instead she just remained silent and did her best to keep the dog away from her bag. After a moment it was clear that no answer would come for Chizuru so she asked something else, "So why did you come here, Tatsuki?"

"I missed your dog." She replied with a smirk.

"Am I going to get a straight answer from you today?" Chizuru asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Eventually," Tatsuki replied making Yasuko laugh again. "But only when the time comes."

Chizuru let out a sigh but asked no more questions but instead said, "I guess I should be happy to have some company today. My parents still haven't come home yet and I thought I'd spend today alone."

"Well, today's a good day and I figured you could use some company." Tatsuki said.

"You have very oddly good timing." Chizuru said slowly.

"Of course I do." Tatsuki said with a smile. "It's divine intervention."

"Would you stop with that?" Chizuru asked impatiently.

"Nope," Tatsuki replied immediately. "It's amusing."

"No it's not." Chizuru said and looked away.

"That's just because you don't get it." Tatsuki said.

"No, I get it." Chizuru said bitterly. "You're throwing salt in my wounds."

"That's not what I meant by it at all." Tatsuki exclaimed. "I would never do anything that cruel. I'm sorry if it seemed that way."

"Well, that's what you're doing." Chizuru said. "I'm only putting up with it because you're all I have right now."

"Is there anything else I do that you're putting up with?" Tatsuki asked. "If I'm hurting you in any way just tell me and I'll stop."

"You won't stop." Chizuru said. "It's how you are."

"How can you even say that when I've completely changed the way I act towards you?" Tatsuki asked.

"You have no reason to hit me." Chizuru said.

Tatsuki gave her a bit of a sad look before picking up the dog and putting him on the ground before carefully putting her bag on the table in front of her. She turned to face Chizuru properly with a look of determination and said, "Give me a reason to hit you then."

Chizuru looked over at her a little shocked, "What are you talking about?"

"You want me to prove I've changed the way I am towards you then give me a reason to hit you." Tatsuki said. "Do whatever you want to me. Try and make me hit you."

Chizuru just sat there and did nothing at all as her shock slowly died down, "I'm not going to do anything to you Tatsuki and I never will."

Tatsuki leaned on the couch with a bit of a sigh, "I'm surprised. You could have done whatever you wanted to me and you didn't do a thing. I thought you'd jump on the opportunity to grope a girl if they gave you the chance."

"That's only the cute ones." Chizuru said.

"Are you saying I'm not cute?" Tatsuki asked.

"You're not the cute type, Tatsuki." Chizuru said. "You're more of the strong and protective type."

"And you're not into that?" Tatsuki asked with a slight smirk.

Chizuru straightened up immediately with a strong blush, "Wh-what are you getting at?"

"Nothing really, I just wanted to mess with you a bit." Tatsuki said with a shrug. "Am I not allowed to do that?"

"I don't care if you want to joke around just don't be weird about it." Chizuru said. "You have really been acting weird around me lately. It's starting to freak me out."

"Last time we talked I was really sick and right now I'm just in a really good mood." Tatsuki shrugged. "It's a good day to be in a good mood. I mean the weather's nice and I beat that cold I had Friday night. I feel like running a marathon right now."

"Then go do that then stop acting so weird." Chizuru said. "Be pissed off, yell at me for anything, even hit me if you want just stop acting like this."

"Well this is the last time I try to make you happy." Tatsuki said somewhat sourly. "Geez and here I am trying to make up for being such a prick to you and you tell me not to be so nice."

"Just be yourself." Chizuru said. "Act normal not the way you are now."

Tatsuki let out a sigh and tapped Chizuru on her shoulder with a fist, "I am acting normal, Chizuru. You just never got to see this normal before because we never got along. Now we're getting along so this is my normal. Get used to it because it's not going anywhere."

Chizuru continued to give her an odd look but said no more on the matter as they fell into silence. The silence didn't last long however as Chizuru's dog began whining and pawing at her leg. She let out a slight sigh before looking over at Tatsuki, "I have to go let him out. Do you mind waiting here for a few minutes?"

"That's fine," Tatsuki said with a smile.

Chizuru smiled back and went upstairs. As she did the smile on Tatsuki's face became sly as she looked over at Yasuko and offered a nod. They immediately got to work. Tatsuki opened her bag and pulled the small gift out and put it aside before taking out the cake and a pack of candles. The candles were arranged and lit as fast as possible for a teen and a ghost. When it was done they met eyes and shared a smile before Tatsuki put her bag under the table and placed the gift next to the cake while Yasuko went to the light switch.

It wasn't long before they heard Chizuru come down the stairs. Before she hit the bottom the light went out and everything was silent until Chizuru called out, "Real funny, Tatsuki. I'm not too fond of the whole practical jo-"

She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the cake illuminated by small candles as Tatsuki sat on the couch as she did her best not to burst out laughing, "I did say surprise right?"

"What's this for?" Chizuru asked almost at a loss for words.

"Today is your birthday." Tatsuki said. "We have to celebrate it. Come make a wish before the candles ruin your cake."

"How did you know that today was my birthday?" Chizuru asked as she slowly walked over.

"A good friend told me." Tatsuki said gently. "She wishes that she could say happy birthday herself but she can't be here like that so she's talking through me."

Chizuru sat down and Tatsuki placed her hand on her shoulder in comfort. There was a moment of silence before she blew out the candles. She straightened up with tears in her eyes making Tatsuki's grip tighten on her shoulder, "Are you alright, Chizuru?"

"I really am an idiot." She said sadly. "Even though I know it's not possible I still want her here."

"Chizuru, she's closer then you think." Tatsuki said as the light went back on.

Chizuru's eyes widened as she looked over to the light switch, "How did that turn on by itself?"

"You might not believe me if I tell you." Tatsuki said. "There are a lot of things that we need to talk about right now and you're probably not going to believe any of it but at least hear me out."

Chizuru nodded distantly as Yasuko sat on the armrest behind her. "Chizuru, I can see and interact with ghosts. I've been haunted for a few days now by your cousin. Well at first she was haunting me then we kind of became friends. It's a bit weird to explain but she first started following me on Wednesday after the storm. She was the one that told me you were by the river. She's also sitting right behind you."

Chizuru's eyes widened as she raised a hand to slap Tatsuki only for her to be stopped as Yasuko grabbed her wrist. She looked at her arm in fear and tried to free herself. Tatsuki let out a sigh and continued, "There was a chance that you wouldn't believe this so we took a bit of precaution. Yasuko has been really worried about you and put me through a bit of hell to make sure you were okay. She told me it was your birthday today so we went out and got your favorite cake and she picked out a gift for you.

"If you have any doubt's then ask me something that only she would know and she'll answer through me." Tatsuki said. "It could be anything at all."

Chizuru said nothing at all but there was a mix of fear and anger in her eyes. It wasn't long before tears rolled down her cheeks and she avoided looking at Tatsuki, "Take the cake and the gift and get out. I don't want to see you anymore. I never thought you could be so cruel."

"I'm not making any of this up, Chizuru." Tatsuki said delicately. "I know that you don't believe any of this stuff. Just trust me on this alright."

"Let's switch to Plan B." Yasuko said making Tatsuki look up at her and nod. "When Chizuru was 10 years old she fell for someone for the first time. It was a 12 year old tomboy named Miyuki. She was short for her age and had short dark hair and played a lot of soccer. She came to me freaked out about it convinced it was wrong to like another girl and I reassured her and told her it was perfectly fine."

"When you were 10 you fell for a 12 year old tomboy named Miyuki. She was short with dark hair and played soccer." Tatsuki started making Chizuru look over at her with wide eyes. "It freaked you out so you went to talk to Yasuko about it and she told you it was perfectly fine to like another girl."

"Her second crush was at the age of 11. This girl was more girly and liked to wear frilly dresses, her name was Rea." Yasuko said. "This one was short lived because the girl was very popular and already liked someone."

"You're second crush was a girl named Rea. She was girly and wore frilly dresses." Tatsuki simplified. "She already liked someone else so your feelings didn't last long."

Chizuru's eyes were wide and her face was pale and tear stained. Yasuko moved from the arm of the couch to be closer to Chizuru as she embraced her but that just made her face pale even more. It was a moment before Yasuko spoke again, "When she first spoke of you she was overjoyed. I'd honestly never known her to be so happy in my life. So when you started bullying her I was crushed that you didn't accept her. I wasn't really expecting anything to happen between you two but just knowing that she found someone that made her so happy filled me with joy. I was crushed when I found out about the bullying."

"I can't repeat that." Tatsuki said. "That's not up to me to put up in the air and you know that."

"I know, but you need to know and I needed to say it." Yasuko replied. "I never told her how crushed I was when I found out about the let down."

"She wants you to know that she was really crushed during a certain rejection. She won't say which one but she wants you to know." Tatsuki said. "Apparently she found you crying on your bed shortly after it happened. She's held a grudge towards that person ever since."

Chizuru looked away from Tatsuki as she slowly and hesitantly wrapped her arms around Yasuko's, "She's really here right now isn't she?"

"Yeah," Tatsuki said. "That anonymous message you got on Wednesday was from her. I let her use my phone to contact you. I never thought it would have such a bad effect but at the time I didn't know how skeptic you were about the spiritual world."

"So that little voice you heard…" She trailed off.

"It was Yasuko." Tatsuki said. "She hasn't really spoken through me other then today and Wednesday evening. She showed up right before the black out and she yelled at me most of the night for the way I treated you. I'm truly sorry about all that and it will never happen again."

"It makes sense now." Chizuru said. "That's when you really started acting different towards me. So she's keeping you in line then?"

"She doesn't have to, Chizuru." Tatsuki said. "I'm not going to do anything to hurt you."

"Prove it." Chizuru said.

"What do you want me to do?" Tatsuki asked.

Chizuru fell silent for a while and said nothing. Yasuko tightened her grip around Chizuru a little with a warm smile, "She likes being held like this. It makes her feel like she's being protected but I bet it would mean a lot more if someone she liked held her like this."

"Why are you telling me that?" Tatsuki asked.

"It would really make her happy if you held her like this." Yasuko said. "I'm not the one that should be protecting her. That's not my role anymore."

"It will always be your role, Yasuko." Tatsuki said.

"What are you two talking about?" Chizuru asked.

"Tell her I'll be passing on soon." Yasuko said sadly. "I've been here for too long."

Tatsuki's eyes widened a little, "Why so soon?"

"You know it's too dangerous for me to stay here besides the longer I stay the harder it will be to let go." Yasuko said. "It's already hard for you so imagine what it would be like for her."

"Yeah," Tatsuki agreed sadly. "Yasuko plans to pass on soon."

Chizuru's grip on her cousin tightened as tears rolled down her cheeks, "Why can't she just stay?"

"It's too dangerous, Chizuru." Tatsuki said. "If a spirit lingers in the human world for too long they turn into monsters and attack the people that kept them bound to the human world. If that happens she'll attack you and the chances of you surviving are pretty slim. It's for both of your safety."

"I don't want her to go." Chizuru said through her tears.

"Chizuru, I know this is hard but you can't cling to her forever." Tatsuki said sympathetically. "You need to let her go and learn to stand on your own. If you ever need anything I'll be here for you."

"I can't let her go." Chizuru cried.

There was a lot of pain in Yasuko's eyes as she pulled her arms away from Chizuru. She got off the couch in tears and moved away. Tatsuki watched sadly as Chizuru tried desperately to cling to the ghost of her cousin. It wasn't long before Tatsuki took Chizuru in her arms and held her firmly as she broke down in tears, "Why are you leaving me?"

"She can't stay here, Chizuru." Tatsuki said. "It's too dangerous for her to stay. As much as she would want to it would only put you in danger and that's the last thing she wants, trust me on that."

Chizuru didn't respond as she struggled to get away from Tatsuki but she couldn't escape. She was helpless as Yasuko moved to the other side of the room in silence. Yasuko didn't leave the room but simple observed what was happening as Chizuru eventually began to stop struggling but Tatsuki's grip was relentless on her. When she stopped struggling she rested her head on Tatsuki's shoulder and just cried at the thought of losing her cousin once again.

Tatsuki hated being in this spot but no one else could be so she was stuck in it much to her dismay. She held Chizuru tight with one arm while she stroked her back with the other. It pained her to be helpless in this situation but she had realized months ago that she had absolutely no influence in the spiritual world. That fact had always bothered her since it made her useless to help Orihime when she was in trouble but now it tore her up inside.

Tears threatened to form in her eyes as did the only thing she could do, "Chizuru, I know you're upset but you shouldn't be. Yasuko is happy now and she can move on knowing that you're okay. You should be happy for her. I know she means a lot to you but her time in the human world is up and there isn't much we can do about it but let her go. The next world is a good place and there will be no danger there."

"Well, that's better then 'awkward reasons'." Yasuko said from the other side of the room.

"Oh, shut up." Tatsuki said impatiently.

"What?" Chizuru asked. "What did she say?"

"She's making fun of me." Tatsuki said. "You can laugh at me also if you want."

"I won't." Chizuru said quietly as she nestled herself in Tatsuki's arms.

"You really like being held don't you?" Tatsuki asked with a smirk.

"So what if I do?" Chizuru asked nervously.

"No reason, but this will only happen when you're upset and no other times." Tatsuki said. "If you try it…"

Chizuru tensed up a little at the implication and Yasuko just shook her head with a smile, "It's still not believable."

Tatsuki ignored her as she released Chizuru and looked away from her to the table, "Eat your cake."

"Yeah," Chizuru said distantly as she got up. "I'll go get some plates. Do you want anything to drink?"

"No, I'm fine." Tatsuki said as Chizuru headed for the stairs where she was stopped, "Hey Chizuru, don't tell anyone about my ability to interact with spirits."

"Don't worry about it." Chizuru said. "No one would believe it anyways."

She continued upstairs as Tatsuki stared at the far wall. Her eyes didn't meet Yasuko's as she walked over to sit next to her. She placed a hand on Tatsuki's shoulder as she sat down next to her. They didn't speak as their mood lessened. From the main floor they heard the dog barking loudly catching both their attention as they heard a door open and loud talking.

"Her parent's are back." Yasuko chuckled. "Can you keep the way Chizuru is a secret? Her parents are against that sort of thing and have no clue about it."

"Yeah, no problem." Tatsuki said. "I wouldn't exactly bring it up anyways. Besides, you already mentioned something about that before."

"Thanks, Tatsuki." Yasuko said as she pat her on the back. "I really did misjudge you before."

"No, I was a different person back then." Tatsuki said. "You didn't misjudge the way I was and I'm grateful for that. It really opened my eyes to what my actions were doing."

"I guess if anything good came out of my death it has to be that Chizuru has made a good friend." Yasuko said with a smile. "I'm very grateful to you, Tatsuki. You can be there for Chizuru better then I ever could."

There were hurried footsteps coming down the stairs making Tatsuki look over to see Chizuru hurry over with an upset look on her face. Tatsuki straightened up almost immediately at the upset look. Her worry increased as Chizuru collapsed on the back of the couch with a sigh, "My parents just got back, the funeral is next Saturday morning. We'll be leaving Friday evening and staying at my Aunt's house."

Tatsuki reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder while giving her a sympathetic look, "Are you alright?"

"No, but I'm better then I would have been if you weren't here right now." Chizuru said with a weak smile.

Tatsuki returned it with a weak smile as well but hers was a little stronger, "Do you need anything right now?"

A slight blush formed on Chizuru's face making Tatsuki's smile widen a little, "Get over here."

Her face reddened as it seemed she was becoming more aware of how visible her little blushes were to others. She hesitantly walked around the couch as Yasuko willingly moved out of the way as Tatsuki shifted herself to be more comfortable. There was a bit more hesitation and a deeper blush as Chizuru sat down and leaned into Tatsuki, who willingly accepted her with a protective embrace. It was obvious that Chizuru was uncomfortable with this embrace now.

"Aw, don't you two make such a nice couple." Yasuko said from the chair to the side of the table.

"Shut up." Tatsuki said angrily.

"What?" Chizuru asked confused.

"I'm being made fun of again." Tatsuki said with a hint of irritation. "It's really starting to piss me off."

"Why are you being made fun of?" Chizuru asked.

"That's a good question." Tatsuki said. "But I'd rather not have that discussion at all."

"Scared of that topic?" Yasuko asked with a sly smile.

"No, I just don't want to have the same conversation over and over again." Tatsuki said. "Just drop it."

"Um, Tatsuki." Chizuru started uncomfortably. "About my parents…"

"I know, I won't say anything about how you are and if I hear them coming down I'll let you go." Tatsuki reassured. "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks, Tatsuki." Chizuru said with a warm smile as she became more comfortable in the embrace.

Tatsuki smiled a little until she heard someone coming downstairs. She immediately released Chizuru who straightened up immediately in her awkwardness as she tried to act normal, or at least what her parents knew of her 'normal'. Tatsuki relaxed herself with a bit of a laugh to make it seem like there was a bit of a conversation but only got a slightly irritated look from Chizuru as her blush grew on her face.

"Lighten up," Tatsuki said as she tapped her on the shoulder. "It was just a joke, you don't have to get so embarrassed about it."

A slight smile formed on Chizuru's face as she began to understand. Her smile faded as her mother called out from the base of the stairs, "So you must be Chizuru's friend."

Tatsuki looked over with a warm smile and said, "Yeah, I'm Tatsuki. Chizuru and I are in the same class."

"Oh really, you two must get along well." She said. "I heard she had a couple close friends in her class."

"We get along great, with the occasional prank." Tatsuki said with a smile.

"I'm glad to hear that." She said happily. "Chizuru, your father and I are going to the store to get you a cake. Do you have a preference on what kind you want?"

"Its fine," Chizuru replied. "Tatsuki brought one when she came over."

Chizuru's mother looked oddly taken aback at this as Tatsuki just shrugged, "The cake shop was on the way so I figured why not? It saves you the trouble of going out of your way so I don't mind."

"How kind and mature of you, Tatsuki." Yasuko hummed from the side.

"Alright, just don't spoil your appetite." She said. "I assume you'll be staying for dinner as well, Tatsuki."

"Sounds good," Tatsuki replied.

Her mother smiled at Tatsuki before going back upstairs. Tatsuki looked over at Chizuru for a moment and smiled at her before looking over at Yasuko and giving her a dark look, "Would you shut up already?"

Chizuru giggled slightly catching Tatsuki's attention. She smiled warmly making Chizuru blush a little and look away, "I guess we should actually eat the cake, huh?"

"Yeah, probably." Tatsuki said with a laugh. "But we still don't have any plates."

"Ah, right." Chizuru said. "When my parents came in I completely forgot since the first thing they brought up was the funeral then they asked about the extra pair of shoes."

"I didn't think you'd be the type to forget things easily." Tatsuki said with a smirk.

"I normally don't… but… you know." She said slowly.

"It's alright, I understand." Tatsuki said as she placed her hand on Chizuru's shoulder. "It's not a pleasant thought especially today. But at least she's still here with us for a little while longer."

"Yeah," Chizuru said distantly as she got up and went to the stairs. "I just wish I could see her too."

Tatsuki watched her leave with a worried expression. When she was upstairs Tatsuki turned back to the table and thought desperately for any form of solution that might let Chizuru be able to see Yasuko even if it was only for a short time. Yasuko watched her curiously as she waited for a conclusion. The determination in Tatsuki's eyes was a dead giveaway that she was up to something once more. She held this look early Friday morning when they planned this day out. It would only be a matter of time before she came up with something.

When Chizuru came back into the basement she got no response from Tatsuki as she was still deep in thought. Chizuru sat down next to her and placed everything on the table before bringing all her attention to Tatsuki. It was clear to her as well that Tatsuki was up to something. Eventually she looked up and noticed all eyes were on her. She glanced over at Chizuru and offered a slight smile, "I have an idea but I don't know if it will work. Come here for a minute."

She motioned Chizuru over and she obliged. They moved around awkwardly until Tatsuki was sitting behind Chizuru and had her hands on her shoulder as she closed her eyes and focused as much as she could, "Just relax."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

7 Remnants of their bond

Tatsuki held a semi tight grip on Chizuru's shoulders as she focused on allowing her to see Yasuko sitting on the chair a few feet away. Chizuru was relaxed yet still anxious for a chance at seeing her cousin again. Just for a moment would be enough for her to know that this was all real and not just a dream. So much of what happened today was too unreal for her to actually believe so willingly but her need for closure along with what had already happened made her want to believe it. She had been held by something that she couldn't see and Tatsuki knew too much about her for this to be fake.

Everything was silent as Yasuko sat on the edge of the chair unable to deny the fact of being anxious of having an actual conversation with her cousin without having to talk through someone. Her gaze shifted from Tatsuki to Chizuru as she searched for any sign that this was working but even after a few minutes there was no change and it was clear that Chizuru was growing skeptic.

Tatsuki's breathing had deepened as she did all she could to channel the little spiritual power that she possessed through Chizuru so she could see her cousin one last time. This was her last chance to see her and it was the best chance they both had for closure. Tatsuki tightened her grip a little more and focused on doing this. If she could do this for Chizuru it would more then make up for all the pain she had put her through. If she couldn't do this then she wouldn't be able to face her again.

Slowly Chizuru began to lean forward as there was a very faint shape sitting on the chair only a few feet away. The shape slowly became more defined and she found that it was moving forward a little too as it began to take human shape. Its hand clasped over its mouth as it became clear enough to make out facial features. Chizuru's eyes slowly widened as a single word slowly passed her lips, "Yasuko."

Tears rolled down both their cheeks as they shared a warm smile. "How are you doing, Chizuru?"

"I'd be great if I knew if this was really real." Chizuru breathed.

Yasuko smirked and went over to her and pinched her cheek with a smile, "Its real and I'm right here."

"So you've really been here the whole time?" Chizuru asked.

"I've been in and out of your house." Yasuko said. "I've mainly been haunting Tatsuki to keep her in line for you. She's a good kid and from what I've seen in the past few days she really sticks to things. You have a good friend here."

Chizuru smiled warmly as she placed a hand over Tatsuki's, "Yeah, she's really different alone then at school."

Chizuru's expression dropped dramatically concerning Yasuko, "What's wrong?"

"Things are going to be different at school tomorrow." Chizuru said sadly. "It's going to go back to what it was before."

"I don't think it will." Yasuko chuckled. "I gave her hell on Wednesday after she went home. She's become fond of you so I doubt anything bad will happen. If she tries it I'll come back and give her another evenings worth of earfuls."

They shared a short laugh and a smile before Chizuru spoke up once more, "Why do you have to go so soon, Yasuko? Why can't you stay just a bit longer?"

"I don't belong here Chizuru." Yasuko replied sadly. "I need to move on and so do you. The longer I stay the harder it will be. This is going to be the last conversation we have. I'm sorry, but Tatsuki's right, the longer I stay here the more dangerous it will be for the two of you. I've already have had a few moments where it's difficult to maintain myself. I can't put you two in any danger and I can't do any more to Tatsuki. She's already been through so much because of me. Even now this is difficult for her to manage yet she's still pushing herself when she should still be resting herself."

Yasuko reached past Chizuru and placed a hand on Tatsuki's shoulder. She didn't take notice in her meditational state that allowed this to go on as long as it was possible. Yasuko smiled warmly as Chizuru glanced over at her. There was a lot of strain on her face and her breathing was deep and slowly becoming hoarse.

"I think this is your best pick, Chizuru." Yasuko said fondly. "She has an amazing determination. She beat her cold on Friday so we could have this opportunity and she's still going. You two would really make a good couple."

"There's nothing like that between us and there never will be." Chizuru said with a smile. "She's not like me but that's okay because she's an amazing friend to have and just that is enough for me. I'm a little grateful for the storm on Wednesday after school. That was the first time she protected me even though she didn't mean for it to happen. That was the first time she really felt like my friend."

"When was the first time it felt like more then that?" Yasuko asked with a smile.

A blush formed on her face as she looked away, "When she showed up by the river and took me in her arms. It hurt to see her suffering with her cold yet she still went there for me."

"I have a feeling everything will work out for the best." Yasuko said warmly.

"What should I do?" Chizuru asked almost desperately. "I don't want anything to come between us now that we've actually become friends."

"I'm not a high school counselor anymore." Yasuko said. "Work this one out on your own. Relationships are never a sure thing you just have to do your best and learn from the mistakes that you make. That's my advice to you. Don't worry so much, everything will be okay."

Chizuru frowned a little, "You always gave me good advice but now that I really need it you don't even tell me what to do."

"Of course not, I can't give you a walkthrough for life." Yasuko laughed. "You need to live for yourself and not by what others tell you. Live a little and explore that's the only way you'll get experience in life and the only way you'll make it on your own, Chizuru. I won't be around for you anymore and from the looks of it this conversation will only last a few more minutes. That's the thing about death it takes time away from everything and everyone."

"I don't want you to go yet but I know it's for the best." Chizuru said. "I'm just really glad that you were able to be here. Just being able to have this conversation means the world to me. It means a lot to have a friend here also."

"You know what they say, your sweet sixteen is always your best birthday." Yasuko said. "But what they don't say is that any birthday spent with the people you care about most are always the ones you never forget. Even if you don't remember how they end you will always remember the best moments."

"I know that, I'll never forget this moment for as long as I live."Chizuru said warmly.

"The best is yet to come." Yasuko said. "Now before we can't talk face to face anymore open up your gift."

"Shouldn't I wait for Tatsuki to snap out of this?" Chizuru asked. "She is the one that got it for me."

"I suppose," Yasuko said as she leaned over and placed a kiss on Chizuru's forehead. As she straightened up she removed her hand from Tatsuki's shoulder with a sad smile as she said, "Give her my best and tell her goodbye for me. I won't be here when she comes to."

"I'll give her any message you want me too." Chizuru said.

"Just tell her that." Yasuko said as her image began to fade. "I'll leave her a more detailed message in her room giving her my thanks."

"Goodbye, Yasuko." Chizuru said a little quickly so Yasuko could do the same while it would still be heard.

"Goodbye, Chizuru." Yasuko said warmly yet held some sadness. "I'll never forget the time we spent together."

She placed a hand on Chizuru's cheek and leaned over to her ear as her image faded away from Chizuru's sight but she faintly heard what was said to her, "Take care of her."

Chizuru smiled warmly even as the hand moved away from her face. She reached out and felt their hands graze once more. Their fingers lingered for only a moment before Yasuko pulled away. Chizuru's smile faded a little but she did nothing more to cling on to her cousin as she felt Tatsuki's body shift and behind her.

Tatsuki fell onto Chizuru's back as her breathing calmed. A warm smile formed on her face as she turned and held Tatsuki up so she wouldn't fall over as she shifted her so she was lying comfortable on her back while her head rested on her lap. A warm smile formed on her face as a part of her still sensed Yasuko lingering around for a bit longer. Her smile warmed considerably as she saw a bit of Tatsuki's hair shift so it was out of her face.

Tatsuki slowly opened her eyes and found herself laying down. Her body felt stiff and sore as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. She soon found herself on Chizuru's lap making her sit up quickly in a bit of awkwardness. She rubbed the side of her face trying to wake up, "How long was I out?"

"Not long." Chizuru said. "It was only an hour."

"Geez, it felt way longer then that." Tatsuki said as she swung her legs out over the edge of the couch and noticed the untouched cake and gift. She glanced over at Chizuru and found she was avoiding looking at her directly. "You could have started without me."

"No way," Chizuru said. "This is my first birthday with a friend. There's no way I want to do anything alone today."

Tatsuki smiled for only a moment before it faded and she looked around, "Where's Yasuko?"

"She left already." Chizuru said with a bit of a smile. "I'm a little sad but I'm glad I was able to see her one last time and even have a small conversation with her."

"So it worked?" Tatsuki asked. "I'm glad, I really had my doubts about it actually working."

"Thanks for that, Tatsuki." Chizuru said finally meeting her eyes. "I'll never forget this day for as long as I live. Not once in my life did I actually wish for something and have it come true. You're really amazing for doing what you did."

A slight blush formed on Tatsuki's face as she looked away, "We just wanted to make today special for you, that's all."

"Well, you more then outdid yourself with letting me see Yasuko one more time." Chizuru said kindly. "I don't think anything could even amount to that one moment I had."

"Well, happy birthday." Tatsuki said. "That's my gift to you. The other one is from Yasuko."

Chizuru smiled warmly but slowly avoided Tatsuki's eyes as her gaze went back to the table. Tatsuki just smirked and said, "If you want to open it then go ahead. It's your day, do what you want I don't mind."

Her smile faded and a light blush appeared on her face but she didn't dare look over at Tatsuki to respond, "I won't do anything that would put you in an awkward position."

"Stop thinking dirty." Tatsuki said and lightly tapped her on the shoulder with her fist. The action immediately brought Chizuru's mood down which startled Tatsuki, "Is everything alright, Chizuru?"

"We have school tomorrow." She said sadly. "What's going to happen between us while we're there? There are still the rumors that are going around."

"Don't worry about it." Tatsuki said. "I'm not going to do anything to you."

"But wouldn't that just make it worse?" Chizuru asked.

"Probably," Tatsuki shrugged. "It's just a rumor. It will go away in time, they all do."

"Yeah," Chizuru agreed. "But what about in the meantime, what are you going to do about them?"

"Nothing, I don't care anymore." Tatsuki said. "After the past few days they are the last of my worries."

"Yeah, there was never any truth to it anyways." Chizuru said.

"High schools," Tatsuki said with a smirk and a shake of the head. "It's supposed to be the best time of our lives but it sucks."

"It sucks more for me then it does for you." Chizuru said.

Tatsuki fell silent for a while as they both stared ahead of them. It wasn't long before Tatsuki let out a slightly aggravated sigh and said, "Can we stop stalling and just eat?"

"Yeah, sorry." Chizuru said as she shifted to the edge of the seat and picked up the knife. "How big of a piece do you want?"

"You get the first slice." Tatsuki said. "It's tradition."

"I'm aware of that but I still need to know." Chizuru said as she cut herself a piece.

"I'll take only about half of that." Tatsuki said.

"I thought you were hungry." Chizuru said with a laugh.

"I am but I can't eat too much fattening food because of an upcoming karate tournament." Tatsuki said.

Her piece was cut and handed to her on a plate. They both relaxed on the couch and began eating the cake in a bit of silence before Chizuru started laughing a little, "It got a bit stale."

"So it wasn't just me." Tatsuki said looking down at her slice. "Oh well, it's to be expected with how long it's been sitting there. I'm not much of a cake person to be honest but I make exceptions for certain people."

"How many people is that?" Chizuru asked curiously.

"It's at three now." Tatsuki said. "It's just you and my parents."

"Wow, Orihime's not on the list?" Chizuru asked. "That's actually a shock."

"She would be an exception if she bought her cakes instead of making them." Tatsuki said.

"I can see why then." Chizuru said with a laugh. "I think her odd taste in different food is cute though."

"Chizuru, we may be friends now but that doesn't mean I'll put up with you fretting over her." Tatsuki said. "I don't like it when people hit on her or obsess over her. She's my best friend."

"And you're protective." Chizuru added. "I know, but just complimenting on something she likes isn't exactly fretting or obsessing over her."

"But it's coming from you." Tatsuki said skeptically.

"I've decided to move on." Chizuru said. "I'm not saying I found someone else or anything but pissing you off and making you hate me isn't something I really want to do. You're a good friend and I don't want to mess up our friendship."

Tatsuki eyed her carefully as she finished eating her slice of cake, "Coming from you that's a little hard to believe. I'm not saying that you want our friendship to be effected by your feelings but just giving up is strange. You're not going after guys now are you?"

"No way," Chizuru denied as if taking offence. "I could never be with a guy. It's just not how I am."

"I'm glad." Tatsuki said with a smile. "I think it's cool how proud of yourself you are so if you were to go after guys then you wouldn't be the same. I'm not the only one who thinks so either."

She looked over at Chizuru and caught a nice blush that ran across her cheeks. Chizuru immediately looked away and tried to eat her piece of cake faster to occupy herself and lose the deep blush on her face that only got worse the longer Tatsuki watched her. Tatsuki averted her eyes out of consideration of the girl's embarrassment. She had no doubt Chizuru had never been this close to another girl that she liked without anyone to interrupt so for her sake she would feign ignorance until it died down or she was ready to admit her feelings.

A slight smile formed on Tatsuki's face as Chizuru placed her empty plate on the table then brought her legs up so she was in the fetal position to help her hide her blush. Tatsuki did her best to ignore it and stifle her laughter so she wouldn't put Chizuru in an even worse place then she was already in now even if it was amusing. As she calmed herself Chizuru did the same but at a much slower pace though she didn't move her legs away from her face.

After awhile Chizuru built up enough courage to look back at Tatsuki though there was no eye contact made. Tatsuki was looking across the room in silence waiting for Chizuru to stop being so embarrassed around her. This friendship was going to be very difficult to manage if she kept blushing and getting overly embarrassed every time there was a bit of niceties or compliments. Those would definitely have to be restricted at school to avoid the completely obvious crush that Chizuru had now.

"Chizuru, for the time being I think it might be best that we avoid each other at school." Tatsuki said. "Just to let things settle down a bit. We can still hang out after school but just not really walking around. If you want to come to my house then it's fine."

"Yeah, I guess." Chizuru agreed but showed her disappointment clearly. "You can come here whenever you want also. Maybe we can eat the whole cake."

"No, my exceptions are limited to special occasions only." Tatsuki said bluntly. "Once the day is over then there's no chance that I'll make the exception again until another special occasion."

"You said that about being lenient towards me." Chizuru said. "That didn't really work out to well for you did it?"

"You're cousin was haunting me and dragged me to the river to find you." Tatsuki said. "After all that I couldn't really just let it all slide."

"So I'm an exception for more then just cake?" Chizuru asked. "What else can I make you do that no one else can?"

"Not much," Tatsuki said looking back over at her. "But since we're on that topic, before this happened I never knew you had a vulnerable side since you never showed any of that before."

"What about it?" Chizuru asked.

"Don't show it to anyone else but me." Tatsuki said sternly. "I don't want anyone to take advantage of it to bully you and I definitely don't want to beat up a group of people for something like that when you can easily confide in me about anything."

"Are you saying you'd defend me?" Chizuru asked.

"Yeah, you're my friend and I don't like it when people mess with my friends." Tatsuki said. "On that note what's your email address? I'll add you so we can make plans outside of school whenever you want."

Chizuru's face brightened at the thought as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. They swapped emails with smiles though Chizuru's was a lot happier then Tatsuki's was as hers was more amused then anything else. She wasn't aware how Chizuru planned on going about her little crush so she would take as many precautions as she could to keep it from getting out of hand. They would avoid each other at school to limit the time they spent together and the rumors and Tatsuki wouldn't give Chizuru her phone number to avoid long calls with possible bad timing and no explanation for them.

When they finished they held warm smiles and nothing more then that but their eye contact didn't last long as Tatsuki looked away as another form of distance between them. Her eyes went back across the room as she asked, "Now what?"

"I don't know," Chizuru responded. "Is there anything in particular you want to do?"

"Not really," Tatsuki responded a bit uncomfortably as the absence of Yasuko was really starting to sink in as there were no little comments or anything in particular to say for her. She wanted to comment on it but she didn't want to upset Chizuru after she seemed to be in such a good mood. It was something that she hadn't seen in a while.

All of last week at school she had been a little quiet but it was only on Wednesday that it was really noticeable since it was right after it had happened. A surge of guilt filled her as she recalled the anger she had felt towards her the moment she jumped to the conclusion that Chizuru had been planning something and how she planned to confront her about it. Her guilt rose even more as she realized that she most likely would have used violence if Chizuru merely mentioned Orihime in any way at all.

Her chest tightened at the thought of hurting Chizuru now. After spending just a couple of days with her and Yasuko her eyes were really opened to so much that she couldn't even bring herself to harm Chizuru even a little bit. The little knocks to the arm had absolutely no force to them and they were more of a small nudge then anything else. If Chizuru were to go after Orihime now then Tatsuki would be caught between them and would be at a loss of what to do. At least Chizuru had agreed to get over Orihime so that would take a lot of pressure off of her.

"Chizuru," Tatsuki started. "I don't think I ever apologized properly to you. I thought that by doing all of this that I'd be making amends but I've realized that this still isn't enough so if there's ever anything I can do for you just let me know. That one's a standing offer so it's good whenever and wherever."

"Tatsuki, everything you did for me in the past five days was already more then I can ask for." Chizuru said. "Don't tell me to ask for more from you because I can't do that to you. If anything I'm the one that owes you now. You saved my life and helped me accept Yasuko's death as well as give me a reason to keep on going with my life and there's so much more that you've given me also."

"Like what?" Tatsuki asked with a slight smirk.

The immediate blush on Chizuru's face was too amusing for her to pass up as it covered her face this time. Unfortunately for her she couldn't help but laugh making Chizuru blush even more. She turned a deep red but there was also a small glint in her eye that Tatsuki didn't like to see. Tatsuki had crossed a small line and she treaded dangerously now as she had tempted Chizuru to do something. Luckily her embarrassment won over her small urge and she looked away as she pulled her legs tighter to her body as a form of defense.

"Where the heck did your dog go?" Tatsuki asked suddenly to change the subject and to distract Chizuru from her small urge to act on her emotions.

"He's probably upstairs with my parents." Chizuru said nervously. "They've been gone for five days so he probably missed them."

"You're not good company for him then?" Tatsuki asked with a bit of a laugh.

"I am, but they buy his food." Chizuru said.

"I guess it makes sense then." Tatsuki said.

"Yeah," Chizuru replied but avoided her eyes. "He usually stays with me though."

"With the exceptions of thunder storms though." Tatsuki laughed as she recalled how he hid when the power went out. "I've never seen a dog act like such a coward."

"Hey, he's a small dog and blackouts scare him." Chizuru said. "He doesn't understand them."

"Is there anything that you're afraid of?" Tatsuki asked with a slight smirk.

Chizuru remained silent for awhile before saying, "I don't really know anymore."

"What do you mean?" Tatsuki asked as their eyes met once more.

"Well, I used to be afraid of you and death." Chizuru said. "But you kind of took that away by showing me that there's really nothing to be afraid of. Everything else, doesn't seem so scary right now. I don't know maybe it's just because I don't remember the last time I was this happy but I feel as though everything is going to be alright now."

Tatsuki smiled at Chizuru, "I'm glad to hear that. I was pretty worried about you before so it's good to know that you're happy now."

Chizuru returned her smile with a blush but Tatsuki didn't look away this time as she felt relieved with her better mood and even more so that she had an influence on her now. That made any future problems easier to deal with and she wouldn't have to rely on a ghost to help her through it. Now she could do it on her own without any help and that was how it should be between two friends. There shouldn't be a third person involved with any problems that could occur.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

8 Birthday Dinner

Tatsuki sat quietly, and awkwardly, at Chizuru's dining table as she had supper with Chizuru and her parents. They had already had the basic 'get to know each other' conversation and now it was just awkward silence as the two teens tried to eat quickly so they could excuse themselves faster. There was one topic of conversation that seemed to be avoided however, Yasuko. It wasn't something Tatsuki wanted brought up since Chizuru finally seemed to be moving on from it with the help of the conversation the two of them had.

Tatsuki watched her bowl of food as it slowly emptied as she wished that she could eat faster but as it turned out that there would be some conversation during this meal as Mrs. Honshou said, "You'll never guess what we saw the other day."

"What was it?" Chizuru asked.

"Well, your father and I went shopping at the mall and just right out in the open, in front of everyone, there were two girls kissing." Mrs. Honshou said as if it were disgusting to even talk about. "It's just not right for people to do that. To think they were around your age as well, I'm just grateful that I don't have to worry about you being like that, Chizuru."

Tatsuki looked over at Chizuru to find she had her focus on her food rather then her mother to avoid showing her pain. Even as she spoke her pain was clear to Tatsuki, "Yeah, it's pretty gross."

Tatsuki faintly noticed Chizuru pull her hand into a tight fist and it shook slightly on her lap. There was nothing she could say right now to defend her that wouldn't give her away to her parents so she remained silent as her mother continued, "What would their parents think if they knew their children acted so disgraceful? If I were their mother I wouldn't let them even see each other again."

"Yeah, well you don't have to worry about it." Chizuru said as she rose from her seat. "I'll be back in a couple minutes."

Tatsuki watched her leave with a bit of worry but tried to keep it subtle so her parents wouldn't catch on to it. When Chizuru was out of the room Mrs. Honshou turned her attention to Tatsuki, "You aren't _one of them_ are you?"

"No, not at all." Tatsuki said. "But I don't see what the big deal is. I mean as long as they're both in love and happy it's fine right? I don't think they care what anyone thinks about them, their in a relationship and that's all there is to it. I'm sure it's the same for any relationship no matter what gender they are. If I were like that then I doubt anyone's bad opinion would really faze me if I were really in love with the person I was with just like it wouldn't if I were with a guy. If I were ashamed of it then I wouldn't really be in love, would I?"

"Well, you have a point there." Mr. Honshou said with a slight laugh. "That's pretty well said also."

"To be honest, I know someone that's like that and it doesn't bother me in the slightest and I'm even used to that sort of thing." Tatsuki said with a shrug. "It used to bother me but I had a couple near death experiences and it really opened my eyes to the people around me and what I've taken from it is to not judge people so quickly. I just want to be a better person and being quick to judge isn't the way to do that so that's not what I do."

"What sort of near death experiences have you had?" Mr. Honshou asked.

"Well, the most recent was just last week during the storm." Tatsuki started. "I was almost struck directly by lighting and if I hadn't been held up for that one moment I would have been struck. A few months ago I was attacked by someone and he almost killed me and my best friend. We just barely escaped from him. It was just one of those moments where we were at the wrong place at the wrong time but it was still terrifying to go through."

Tatsuki looked back at the table as she relived the night she was attacked by a hollow. She placed her hand on her forehead with a shaky exhale. The three fell silent for awhile as Mr. and Mrs. Honshou slowly went back to eating their dinner and eventually Tatsuki began again. As she did Chizuru rejoined them at the table with a slight look of unease that grew with the looks of unease around the table.

The four of them ate in silence once more as Tatsuki chanced a glance over at Chizuru to find that her eyes were a little pink from tears. She could tell just sitting here was painful for her and Tatsuki wasn't keen on letting her suffer. Tatsuki took in a bit of a deep breath before beginning, "Chizuru, what are you doing Wednesday evening?"

She looked over a little startled at the sudden attention, "I don't have anything planned, why?"

"I have a karate tournament on Wednesday evening just out of town." Tatsuki said simply. "If you want to come and watch you can since I have an open guest spot. You're more then welcome to come."

"Don't you normally have Orihime go with you?" Chizuru asked. "She is your best friend isn't she?"

"Yeah, but she's busy this week." Tatsuki said. "Besides it's nice to have someone there to cheer me on, you know."

"I guess its fine then." Chizuru said with a smile.

Tatsuki returned it before Mr. Honshou said, "I didn't know you were into karate, Tatsuki."

"Yeah, I've been taking lessons since I was four years old." Tatsuki said proudly. "I've been in a lot of tournaments too."

"Have you ever won?" Mrs. Honshou asked.

"Yeah, I've got a bunch of medals and trophies from different competitions and tournaments." Tatsuki said as her ego inflated a little. "During the last major tournament I was in I was named second strongest in the high school girl's division."

"But didn't the girl that beat you break your arm?" Chizuru asked.

"No, I had a small break before my last match so I went to an outdoor vending machine for a quick drink and I was hit by a car." Tatsuki said.

"So you had to forfeit?" Mrs. Honshou asked.

"No I gave it my all anyways but it definitely held me back." Tatsuki said. "If I hadn't broken my arm I definitely would have won."

"And your ego wouldn't have fit in any room you entered." Chizuru said quietly.

Tatsuki laughed at her comment, "Yeah well being named the strongest high school girl in the region can do that."

"Except you weren't but your ego inflated regardless." Chizuru said with a smirk. "Your ego was almost too big for the festival."

"You're over exaggerating there." Tatsuki said with a smirk. "It's not like I was challenging everyone to a fight every chance I got."

"You still made a couple of challenges here and there." Chizuru said as her smile faded a little.

"Well, I've matured since then." Tatsuki said with a nod.

"It's on and off." Chizuru said with a laugh.

"I'm still young so I can afford it." Tatsuki defended. "What's the point of being mature if you don't live life to its fullest? It's the only way I'll learn anything from experience."

"Well said, again." Mr. Honshou said. "I'm surprised at your maturity level, Tatsuki. For someone your age you should still jump on all the little things."

"I've never been like that since my karate was always pretty disciplining for me." Tatsuki said with a smile. "It put me ahead of all my friends."

She looked over at Chizuru with a bit of a teasing smile and found she was smiling back in good humor. It didn't last however as they both went back to their meal in another silence but at least the tension was lifted. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence and Tatsuki offered to help clean up before leaving since Chizuru hadn't done that yet because of the surprise visit.

The two of them did dishes while Mr. and Mrs. Honshou went to finish unpacking. Chizuru avoided Tatsuki's eye the whole time they cleaned the table and even as the dishes were started. Her nervousness was voiced with her protests, "You don't have to help with this, Tatsuki. You've done more then enough for me today."

Tatsuki glanced over and said, "Don't worry about it, I always help Orihime with dishes when I go over so this is no different… other then the fact that there are more people here."

"So what," Chizuru protested. "With everything else you did for me today this is way too much."

"Stop thinking so much about it, Chizuru." Tatsuki said. "We _are_ friends right?"

"Yeah we are but you're still doing more then you should." Chizuru said. "At least let me pay you back for all this."

"No way," Tatsuki said. "I still haven't finished apologizing yet."

Chizuru was taken aback for a moment before she looked away, "Is that all this is to you now?"

"Is that what you think it is?" Tatsuki asked sadly.

"I'm hoping its not." Chizuru said quietly. "But even if it is I'm still really grateful to you."

"Chizuru, you _are_ my friend and I doubt that will change." Tatsuki said. "Just stay away from Orihime."

"I thought I told you not to worry about that." Chizuru said. "I'm done with her, alright."

"The second part was a joke." Tatsuki said. "I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

"I know, thanks." Chizuru said kindly. "Thanks for earlier too it really meant a lot the way you stood up to her about it."

"I didn't know you heard that." Tatsuki said.

"I knew she would ask you about it." Chizuru said sadly. "I didn't want to put you in an awkward spot if I didn't have to."

"It wouldn't have been awkward." Tatsuki said. "I had a few warnings ahead of time."

"Yeah, I wish I gave you more of a warning but I just don't like to think about it." Chizuru replied.

Tatsuki watched her sadly as she wiped a stray tear from her eye. It was awhile before anything was said but Tatsuki wanted to make sure Chizuru was alright before continuing with their topic, "Chizuru, you have my email so if you ever want to talk about anything that's bothering you feel free. I'll be there for you anytime you need me to be. That's the kind of person I am."

"I think I caught on to that by now." Chizuru said with a smile.

"Well I worry about you." Tatsuki said.

"You don't have to." Chizuru said warmly with a slight blush. "At least not anymore anyways."

The two shared a smile but only one held a blush as the other continued to feign ignorance towards all awkwardness and feelings. Tatsuki still wanted nothing to do with Chizuru in that way but was enjoying their friendship despite all her doubt she had about it before. Chizuru wasn't as bad as she originally thought and her guilt for her own actions towards the other girl was more shameful then how Mrs. Honshou thought of two girls dating each other and that was pretty bad.

However there was no pity in her friendship with Chizuru and there never would be again for that matter. Tatsuki truly thought of her as a good friend and wasn't about to throw that away over something stupid like a crush. After the week Chizuru has had she figured it was just a natural reaction and that it would fade in time and she would help that process by avoid the girl whenever she could while still spending some time with her.

When they finished with the dishes they slowly made their way downstairs followed once more by the small dog as he faithfully followed Chizuru wherever she went. Tatsuki smiled as they reached the bottom of the stairs and he immediately passed her to be closer to his master. Chizuru went back to the couch and sat down followed once more by her dog as he went right up on the couch to join her. He was welcomed with a smile before Chizuru looked over at Tatsuki, "Getting jealous now?"

"Why would I be?" Tatsuki asked.

"Well, he's not giving you any attention anymore." Chizuru laughed.

"That's just because I'm still standing." Tatsuki countered as she went to sit down as well.

As she did the dog ignored her as Chizuru continued to give him attention. Tatsuki shrugged in a slight uncaring manner as Chizuru laughed at the abandonment and loyalties of her dog. They sat in silence as neither of them had anything to say at the moment. It was once more becoming awkward without Yasuko sitting with them to offer comments or suggestions and Chizuru seemed to be more accepting of her passing now, which of course put Tatsuki at ease.

But now it just seemed like they had nothing to talk about because Yasuko had passed on and that was the only reason the two were together at that moment. Chizuru seemed to be distracting herself of the growing awkwardness by giving her dog attention while Tatsuki just sat there in silence. It didn't last long however before Mrs. Honshou called for Chizuru and she went upstairs, once more tailed by her dog while Tatsuki stayed on the couch.

There were raised voices from the main floor that were almost loud enough for Tatsuki to make out the whole conversation but she ignored it to give them privacy. The yelling lasted a few minutes before there was silence. Not long after that Chizuru came back down to the basement in a fowl mood. Tatsuki watched her almost nervously as she feared that her opinion on girl on girl relationships was what got her in trouble with Mrs. Honshou.

"I can't go to your tournament." Chizuru said as she sat down.

"How come?" Tatsuki asked.

"Sensei called my mom and told her I was failing history." Chizuru said. "Now I have to stay home on Wednesday so I can study for the test we have on Thursday."

"How are you failing history?" Tatsuki asked. "It's one of our easiest subjects this term."

"It's boring." Chizuru said "I can never pay attention to sensei when she's teaching it."

Tatsuki fell silent for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "What if I help you study for it? We could start tonight and study every night. I can probably get you caught up before Wednesday so you can come then we'll study after the tournament also."

"I don't think that would actually work." Chizuru said skeptically.

"Just suggest it first then say that if you don't show any improvement then you don't go." Tatsuki said. "_But_ if you have improved in it then you can go. No arguments or begging on either side and your parents can test you themselves on Tuesday if it helps."

"Okay, _that_ they might go for." Chizuru said. "But isn't that too much trouble for you?"

"It's fine," Tatsuki said. "I don't want you to be held back if you didn't have to be."

Chizuru smiled gratefully and hurried back upstairs as Tatsuki let out a sigh as she realized that by doing this then it would only make avoiding her harder. Since she can't avoid her now Chizuru's feelings will only grow and become more of a hassle to deal with. She tried to think of something else and her mind fell onto thoughts of Yasuko as she wondered where she was now and if she had been able to pass on alright. If not then Tatsuki would have to try and arrange something for Yasuko to be able to pass on.

It was awhile before Chizuru returned to the basement again but this time she came down with a victorious smile yet her eyes held her unease. She sat on the couch and this time when her dog jumped up he laid his head on Tatsuki's lap. He had immediate attention but Tatsuki's gaze was on Chizuru as she awaited the good news.

"They said that it's okay as long as I improve but if I fail I'm going to be grounded." Chizuru said. "The only exception is if I just barely fail it. But I have to study every night."

"So where's your text book?" Tatsuki asked with a slight smile.

Chizuru didn't hesitate in running back upstairs to gather all the things she needed and her excitement about this was clear. Her mind too, was no doubt filled with the thoughts of the time that they would be spending together now. Tatsuki let out another, but longer, sigh as her regret for this decision grew. She would just have to ignore any pass made and all her little embarrassed moments. At least whenever they'll happen Tatsuki can easily block it out with studies and if she's strict about it then there would be no time for any little crush.

When Chizuru got back to the basement the two cleared the table and set everything up. Tatsuki sent her mother a quick email to explain the new tutoring situation so she wouldn't have to worry before she went over all the area's that Chizuru was having problems with. Her regret was continually on the rise as she found just how much trouble Chizuru was having with this subject and she realized that it would be more then just a couple hours a night.

The two of them would have to study all evening until the test and even the karate tournament might not be such a good idea for Chizuru. If she took a break then she might not pass the test and if she didn't pass then not only would she be grounded she would be let down and even that Tatsuki didn't want so they would have to study a lot to make sure that Chizuru passed the test.

They studied for hours without much of a break other then the occasional getting up for a stretch or letting the dog out. It wasn't until ten o'clock that they decided to call it a night. They sat back on the couch with a headache from reviewing the first part of their studying. It had all been broken into three parts so everything could be looked over by the end of their Tuesday session and then Wednesday would just be a final review on whatever Chizuru was still having trouble with.

"No more after this." Chizuru said. "I'm drawing the line. It's just too much."

Tatsuki looked over at her with a look of complete confusion, "You're already giving up?"

"No," Chizuru said. "I meant no more niceties. You are doing way too much for me now."

"What's your point?" Tatsuki asked with a slight smirk. "Do you want me to go back to being a prick?"

"I'd rather you didn't but it's going to happen anyways." Chizuru said sadly. "You do have to keep up appearances at school remember?"

"I don't care about appearances, Chizuru." Tatsuki said. "Besides, as soon as you find out that you passed the test you're going to jump on me."

"I'll try not to." Chizuru said unconvincingly.

"That is nowhere even close to being convincing." Tatsuki said as her smirk widened.

"Then I won't look at the mark until after school and you're gone." Chizuru said.

"No way, I want to be there to see if this all pays off." Tatsuki said with a smirk.

"I'm sure it will." Chizuru said. "I feel smarter already."

"Prove it." Tatsuki said.

Chizuru smirked and gave an example of what they studied and explained it quickly but missed a few key points so Tatsuki pointed them out resulting in Chizuru becoming frustrated and claiming it was better then what she would have said about it before. Tatsuki agreed with a laugh but no more then that before they fell into another silence where Chizuru closed her eyes.

"You tired?" Tatsuki asked.

"Yeah, it's been a really fun day though." Chizuru said with a smile.

"I'm glad I can make you happy." Tatsuki said warmly.

Chizuru blushed slightly but didn't respond out of nervousness. After awhile Tatsuki spoke up again, "I should probably head home soon before my mom throws a fit."

"Yeah," Chizuru agreed. "My mom's probably about ready to kick you out too."

"Oh, that's nice." Tatsuki said with a slight laugh.

"It's just because she's going to bed soon and doesn't like people in the house when she's sleeping." Chizuru explained.

"Well, before we both pass out." Tatsuki said as she got off the couch and gathered her things.

"Yeah," Chizuru said as she got up as well. "I'll walk you to the door."

They left the basement and went back upstairs at a slightly slow pace. Chizuru's mood had lessened a little as they reached the door and Tatsuki began to put her shoes on. They were silent until Tatsuki was out the door and standing on the porch, "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school then?"

"Yeah," Tatsuki replied. "We'll set up tomorrows study session through email tomorrow so you don't have to think about it anymore tonight."

"Alright, sounds good." Chizuru said as she stepped out of her house and closed the door behind her to make their next words more private, "You know, those rumors about us hooking up… well they don't sound half bad now."

Chizuru held a warm smile but Tatsuki didn't respond in any way or form making all smiles vanish with nervousness, "I mean now that we've gotten to know each other more I think we'll be great friends, right?"

"Yeah," Tatsuki said awkwardly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She left with that and walked away from the house quickly, only looking back at the street to offer a slight wave. As she walked down the street her mind was questioning what Chizuru had been thinking. If Tatsuki were to have reacted to that then there probably would have been a confession on Chizuru's part leading to a very bad situation for them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

9 Karate tournament

Tatsuki exhaled deeply as she took up her stance. She watched her opponent carefully as she brought up her stance as well. For the briefest of moments Tatsuki looked past her opponent and into the stands where she spotted Chizuru watching almost intently. A faint, yet warm, smile formed on her face at the sight of her being so happy. Her heart picked up a bit as the match began and her opponent took the offence immediately forcing her to take the defense.

Chizuru admired Tatsuki throughout the whole tournament even when she wasn't in a match. Her heart skipped a beat every time she was declared the winner. Her admiration towards Tatsuki was becoming far more then just a simple crush. It had gone beyond that days ago and the time they spent together was becoming difficult even when they just studied. It was hard for Chizuru to concentrate on history but the way Tatsuki was explaining it made it easy for her to understand.

She was now overly confident about the test coming up and she doubted that she would fail but would still do the review tonight to make sure she had a good understanding on what the test would be on. Tatsuki had assured her that she would do fine but agreed that a final review was a good idea, though Chizuru just wanted to use it as an excuse to spend another evening with her since after the test they wouldn't spend as much time together. With her current feelings she wasn't ready to just stop seeing her all the time so if she could get away with an extra day she would do it.

The match went on as Chizuru thought of nothing else other then the match and how she would congratulate Tatsuki on all her wins throughout the evening. It was already 7:30 pm and she had won all her matches so far and this was the last match of the tournament. There was little doubt that Tatsuki would be exhausted after this so they would probably just go to one of their houses and not do much more then sit around and study.

This match was longer then the others as it was fairly even between Tatsuki and the other girl but not many hits even got through. Tatsuki was mildly concerned about the length of the match but knew it would be over soon and she was winning so far. As she found an opening in her opponent's defense she went for it, ending the match on the spot. The other girl stumbled back a bit from the hit as the match was called.

Both girls dropped their guard and bowed respectively. When they rose from their bow Tatsuki was declared the winner of the single matches, for the team matches her dojo placed second out of ten dojos. It was an outstanding evening for Tatsuki while for Chizuru it was breathtaking as her feelings for the other girl continued its rise.

There was a small ceremony for the top four winners where they all received medals. When it was over the stands began to empty as parents and friends hurried to catch up with who they came to watch. Chizuru had taken note of a large number of young men, supposedly here to watch their girlfriends, and they all talked excitedly about the match.

As Chizuru made her way out she overheard a couple guys talking about the last match and out of curiosity she listened in on the conversation in front of her, "I can't believe that Arisawa girl."

"I know what you mean." The other said. "Every tournament she's in she always makes it to the end."

"Yeah, how much time does she put into karate anyways?" The first one asked. "It's as if it's all she does with her time."

"No matter how much time she puts into it doesn't change the fact that she's practically famous in a lot of local dojos." The second one replied. "She even has her own fan club, though I don't know if she even knows about it."

"I don't know, but it's mostly girls in it." The first one laughed. "Do you think she's into that stuff?"

"She has to be," The second one said. "Every tournament or competition she always brings the same girl with her. There's no way she's not."

"I didn't see her this time though." The first one said. "Maybe they broke up."

"They did look like an odd couple." The second said.

"You dog," The first said with a laugh. "You have a thing for Arisawa too don't you?"

"So what, I think she's cute." The second argued.

"Bud, she'd kick your ass if she heard you say that." The first laughed. "Remember that time she flipped out at some guy because he touched her girlfriend? The poor guy never had a chance."

"Yeah, but they broke up right, so I might be able to have a conversation with her without getting a chair thrown at me." The second said. "I think I'm going to go for it."

"What if she didn't break up with her girlfriend and something just came up?" The first suggested. "You'd still get a chair thrown at you. Hell, you'll get a table thrown at you if you even suggest it."

"I'm still going for it." The second said with confidence.

"You're just going to get shot down, man." The first said.

Chizuru had about enough of their conversation and was beginning to feel pretty bitter about Tatsuki's fan club. She wanted to give both the guys a piece of her mind but didn't feel like she had the right since she and Tatsuki had only been on good terms for less then a week despite all the feelings that she held. There was still no chance of them even being returned which gave her even less of a right to say anything even though she knew Tatsuki wouldn't hesitate to defend her. She wasn't courageous enough to step up like that, even for someone she really liked.

She continued on to the main lobby of the building where she would meet up with Tatsuki. As she waited she noticed the two guys lingering around as well but closer to the hallway where the competitors were coming from. The longer she stood there keeping an eye on the guys the more nervous she became of being blown off by Tatsuki and even rejected though nothing had been said about her feelings. It wasn't something she really wanted to hear right now or even after her feelings were slowly crushed once more, which was, unfortunately, something that she knew was going to happen in just a matter of time.

Soon Tatsuki made her way into the main lobby with another girl from her dojo as they talked in high spirits and praise of the others accomplishments in the matches. They were stopped by one of the guys as he greeted them, "Hey, Arisawa, I saw your match and I'd like to say that you were amazing."

"Thanks," Tatsuki said.

"I'm going on ahead, Tatsuki." The girl she was with said. "My mom's waiting in the car."

"Alright, see you on the weekend." Tatsuki said.

The other guy watched her leave before saying, "I've been to a few competitions lately and I couldn't help but notice your skill and uh, I was kind of wondering… if you would want to-"

"Pass," Tatsuki said immediately. "No offense to you or anything, but I already have someone I'm interested in. Sorry."

"No, it's fine." He said quickly trying to save himself the humiliation. "I've got other girls interested in me so there's no loss for me."

Tatsuki gave him an odd look before walking away. She spotted Chizuru, who was looking towards the front doors, not far away and went over to her. The upset look on her face made Tatsuki's pace quicken so she could find out what was wrong faster but as she got to Chizuru she just started walking away. Tatsuki was right beside her but neither of them spoke until they got outside, "Is everything alright, Chizuru?"

"Everything's fine." She replied but didn't look over.

"Oh, I get," Tatsuki said with a smirk. "You wanted to see me get beat up didn't you?"

"Of course not." Chizuru said immediately.

"Then what is it?" Tatsuki asked making her stop so they could face each other.

"That guy asked you out, didn't he?" Chizuru asked. "What was your response?"

"I rejected him." Tatsuki said with a shrug.

"Just like that?" Chizuru asked as tears formed in her eyes. "You wouldn't even give him a chance?"

"I've never even seen that guy before." Tatsuki said. "I don't know what he's like so why would I go out with him?"

"What if you did know him?" She asked. "Would you give him a chance then?"

"Only if I liked him back, it's not like I'd want to lead anyone on." Tatsuki said honestly. "Why is this bothering you so much?"

"It's not," Chizuru said immediately.

Tatsuki gave her a concerned look before looking at her watch, "Hey, it's getting pretty late…"

"You want to go home." Chizuru implied.

"No, I was going to suggest going to get something to eat." Tatsuki said as she wiped away a stray tear from Chizuru's cheek. "We still have a review tonight, if you still want to do it, of course."

"Yeah, sounds good." Chizuru said with a weak smile. "I can't really afford much though."

"It doesn't matter," Tatsuki said with a warm smile. "It's my treat."

"You mean…" Chizuru said nervously through a blush. "As in…"

"As in a celebration dinner." Tatsuki said awkwardly. "We're celebrating my victory and your future pass in history."

"Oh, right of course." Chizuru said quickly in complete embarrassment. "I wasn't on the right track."

Tatsuki gave her an odd look then just shrugged, "Come on, there's a restaurant around here I've wanted to check out."

"But what about the bus back?" Chizuru asked nervously. "If we miss it then how are we going to get back to Karakura?"

"My mom can pick us up around nine." Tatsuki said. "I just have to call her and its fine."

"Did you plan this out?" Chizuru asked giving her a strange look.

"No," Tatsuki said. "I like some of the stores in this town and Orihime and I often shop around before going back to Karakura."

"So then this restaurant…" Chizuru started. "Have you been there before?"

"No, it actually just opened recently." Tatsuki said slowing catching on to her jealousy so she said no more.

Chizuru fell silent as Tatsuki led her down the street. On occasion Tatsuki glanced over to find the hurt look hadn't left Chizuru's face at all as it only seemed to get worse as they continued. The hurt look made her uncomfortable but she couldn't touch the subject without revealing that she knew about Chizuru's feelings. There was too much awkwardness between them now that couldn't be lifted without feelings being known and Tatsuki didn't have any emotional feelings for her to try and cheer her up.

Their awkward walk lasted ten minutes before they arrived at the restaurant. When they entered it Chizuru's mood immediately heightened only for it to be brought down with confusion and guilt as the restaurant was mildly fancy but only enough for it to be pricy and not romantic. She glanced over at Tatsuki and found she didn't seem to notice the layout too much making her uneasy as she wondered if she had really been in this place before or not.

The hostess greeted them properly and brought them to a small table near the back. She placed the menus in front of them as they sat with a smile before leaving them there. Tatsuki didn't hesitate at opening the menu and scanning the food while Chizuru gave her a worried look before doing the same. Her stomach rumbled and her mouth began to water just at the pictures of the food. Her last meal had been at lunch and she didn't have much then.

Tatsuki quickly scanned through the menu and chose something before glancing up at Chizuru as she waited for her to do the same. It was awhile before she looked up as well and met Tatsuki's eyes. Tatsuki offered her a warm smile only for her to go red in the face and look back down at the menu. She couldn't help but laugh at her response before she glanced around the restaurant.

The lighting was dim and the walls were a glossed wood that were lined with shaded light bulbs, which were spaced out perfectly to give the place a permanent evening appearance. The tables were covered in white table cloths made of a thick fabric and the chairs were quite comfortable as well. There wasn't much mood setting other then the lighting and most of the tables were for more then two people and the tables seating two lined the restaurant.

"Have you decided yet?" Chizuru asked nervously

"Yeah, I did a while ago." Tatsuki said.

"I take it you're hungry then." Chizuru said with a smile.

"I've worked up an apatite." Tatsuki admitted with a smirk. "Besides I usually always have the same thing no matter what restaurant I go to."

"Aren't you picky," Chizuru said.

"No, I just like it and every restaurant has it." Tatsuki shrugged.

Chizuru smiled as the waitress came to their table and took their order. Tatsuki gave her order first and Chizuru ordered next and the waitress left after quickly writing it all down. When she was gone the two met eyes once more and smiled warmly at each other. A blush formed across Chizuru's cheeks once more and without a menu to hide behind she instead turned her gaze to the rest of the restaurant.

"This place is pretty nice." She said.

"Yeah, it's a bit too fancy for my taste though." Tatsuki said.

"Not one for romantic stuff?" Chizuru teased a little.

"Not really," She admitted. "I don't really go for the whole romantics that much. There's not much of a point if I'm not in a relationship."

"What if you were with someone?" Chizuru asked curiously as their eyes met once more.

"I guess it would depend on who I was with and how much I cared about him." Tatsuki shrugged. "I mean if he were into that sort of thing then I guess I'd go along with it."

"Yeah, I guess." Chizuru said a little distantly.

It wasn't long before Tatsuki caught on to what she had said. She mentally hit herself as Chizuru avoided her eyes and glanced out the window. Of all the things that she could have said she had to say a gender. That was basically rejecting her without even giving her a chance to confess. Even though she had done it to the guy earlier there was more reason for that since she hadn't seen him before and at the time she was being more considerate of Chizuru's feelings then she ever had been since she first noticed them.

"I'll be back in a minute." Tatsuki said as she rose from the table. "If the food gets here before I get back then you don't have to wait."

Chizuru said nothing as Tatsuki excused herself and went to the restrooms. Before she got there she glanced back at Chizuru and found the pained expression on her face. She let out a bit of a pained sigh at the thought of hurting her now before going into the restroom. Not too long ago doing anything to hurt Chizuru was almost normal now just thinking about it was devastating for her.

Tatsuki leaned over the sink and looked into the mirror at her reflection. She found a guilty look in her eyes from the words she had absent mindedly let pass her lips. But that was just natural for her since she wasn't like that. She had always been into guys. Her mind went over all the guys she ever had a thing for before she realized that she never had a thing for any guy that she knew or didn't know. Every guy that ever attempted to ask her out she had always denied before they even had a chance to finish.

Her guilt vanished as her questions began about herself as she began to recall what Yasuko had said on the first day of her cold. She had thought it was just a way of getting to her but what if she had been right? What if she really was like that? Tatsuki's face began to pale as her mind wandered a bit farther on this matter then she would like. It wasn't long before she realized how much she had really changed for Chizuru since they started getting along.

She turned on the water and wet her face a little in hopes of washing these thoughts out of her mind so she wouldn't do anything to make the rest of the night even more awkward between them. When she cleared her mind she turned the water off and wiped her face before looking back in the mirror with a final sigh. She was nowhere close to being content with any of this but she couldn't let Chizuru wait forever so she left the restroom.

When she got out she immediately noticed Chizuru gazing out the window with her face rested on her hand. The sun had begun to set and the light that shone into the restaurant now lit the side her table was on with a warm orange increasing the romance of the setting. A slight blush formed on Tatsuki's face as she noticed how pretty Chizuru looked when she was deep in thought.

The waitress arrived with their meals making both of them snap away from their distractions and Tatsuki continued to the table. As the waitress left them again the two girls met eyes and Tatsuki took her seat once more while they shared a quick smile. They began in silence, each avoiding conversation and eventually eye contact as well as it became too awkward. The longer their silence was the more obvious it was that there was awkwardness on both sides and not just because of unannounced feelings.

"So," Tatsuki started nervously. "How is it?"

"The food or the restaurant?" Chizuru asked with a smile.

"I was talking about the food but whatever you want to comment on." Tatsuki said while looking out the window.

"It's all great." Chizuru said warmly.

"I'm glad you like it." Tatsuki said distantly.

Her mind had gone right back to her confusion at the sight of Chizuru sitting in the light of the sunset. The fact that Chizuru was acting like this was more then just dinner made her nervous as well since this seemed to be getting more and more romantic as time went by and the sun set more. She hadn't dreaded a study session so much in her life but at least with the tournament she could always say she was tired and wasn't up for it. That way the rest of the planned evening would be avoided and if Chizuru was still struggling then there was always lunch the next day to do a quick review if she was really nervous about it and it would be done in the library so nothing could even happen and it also gave Tatsuki a night to figure things out for herself.

They fell into silence once more as they continued their dinner. This time it didn't last as long and Chizuru was the one to start a conversation, "I was really impressed by you today."

"What do you mean?" Tatsuki asked as they met eyes once more.

"At the tournament, I always knew you were strong but all that was just amazing." Chizuru replied. "I'm not one for sports but I could watch you compete anytime."

"Alright," Tatsuki said distantly as she looked back out the window. She felt a slight warmth on her cheeks as her heartbeat picked up a bit at the praise then even more as she thought about Chizuru being at all her tournaments and competitions. This didn't go well with her current confusion and only made her come across the thought that she may possibly harbor some sort of emotion for Chizuru.

The more she thought about it the more nervous she became and the hotter her face felt and the more convinced she was that if she were to meet Chizuru's eyes at that very moment she would do something that she would regret. If something did happen she wouldn't be able to come up with anything against it making Chizuru think more on it then she should and then it would lead to a very bad situation for her. To make matters even worse was that they still had two whole days of school this week as well as all the rumors still going on around them.

Chizuru finished her meal before Tatsuki and continued to sit in silence as the other girl just sat there playing with her food. To her this would be a perfect date scenario if they were talking more but Tatsuki was keen on avoiding her now. It only convinced her that she was still getting slowly rejected and there was nothing that she could do about it but let it happen and try to make the most out of things as she could before it came crashing down around her like it always did.

The thought of it made her sigh and surprisingly got Tatsuki's attention rather quickly, "Is everything alright, Chizuru?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking." She replied a little distantly.

"Anything of interest?" Tatsuki asked curiously.

"It probably wouldn't interest you." Chizuru said with a slight smile.

"Try me." Tatsuki said with a shrug.

"I was thinking about romance." She said as her smile widened a little.

"Found someone else then?" Tatsuki asked nervously.

"Yeah, but it's not going to happen." Chizuru said with a clear disappointment.

"It might." Tatsuki said slowly as she began to dig herself a hole.

"There's no way it ever will." Chizuru said. "This one is_ way _out of my league."

"I didn't know you had a league." Tatsuki said with a laugh. "I thought it was more along the lines of first come first serve for you."

"It wouldn't even be like that if I had the courage." Chizuru said nervously. "I know I'm already being rejected."

Tears formed in Chizuru's eyes but didn't fall as Tatsuki verbally stopped them, "Everything will work out for you, I'm sure it will. You're a really good person and whoever this person is they're very lucky to have you interested in them."

Chizuru smiled warmly as she wiped away her tears, "Thanks for that, Tatsuki. It really means a lot to hear that."

"Well, I'm here for you." Tatsuki said. "No matter what happens."

Her smile warmed dramatically and despite the light blush on Tatsuki's face she didn't look away since it would be like going back on her word already. They held each others gaze until Chizuru couldn't take it anymore and glanced out the window. Tatsuki smiled a little as she was grateful for her tendency to get easily embarrassed around her which allowed her to finish her meal with a bit more ease then before.

When Tatsuki finished her meal the waitress took their plates and asked if they wanted anything else but she was quickly denied as the two had their fill of awkwardness and just wanted to go about their evening. A study session was very unlikely and they both knew it even if it presented Chizuru with another evening with Tatsuki it was clear to even her that it would only be filled with awkwardness between them and there would be no review done at all.

The bill came and Tatsuki paid it without word or even complaint about the price. When that was done they left and she immediately called home for a ride so they could rid themselves of the growing awkwardness. They started back to the large dojo that the tournament was held at to wait for their ride back to Karakura where they would go their separate ways with little words between them.

Along the way Tatsuki faintly noticed that Chizuru was walking a little bit closer to her. She glanced over curiously as she wondered if the other girl was just nervous about being in a strange place and not knowing anyone while it was starting to get dark but the happy look on her face just said the opposite and no more then that. Tatsuki smiled faintly over at Chizuru before looking back ahead of her and spotting a slightly familiar face that she wanted to forget.

The two girls walked by him without word but they both recognized him immediately. It was the guy that had asked Tatsuki out after the tournament and had been rejected. As it turned out he wasn't to pleased by it, "So you are like that, Arisawa?"

Tatsuki looked back at him, "What are you talking about?"

"You're into girls." He said making Chizuru look back as well. "There is no way someone that's as athletic as you isn't like that and your 'friend' is clearly like that."

"Do you have a problem with rejection?" Tatsuki asked. "Or are you just a narrow minded idiot?"

"I just have a problem with _your_ kind." He said coldly.

"Okay, so you're just a narrow minded idiot." Tatsuki said with a slight smirk before turning to walk away. "Come on, Chizuru lets go."

The two girls walked away from him as he continued shouting after them. When they could no longer hear him Tatsuki glanced over at Chizuru and said, "Isn't it a good thing I turned him down? He wouldn't have lasted long."

"What do you mean?" Chizuru asked though she couldn't help but smile.

"Well as soon as he insulted you I would have kicked his ass." Tatsuki said simply with a smirk. "I don't like it when people insult my friends or anyone I care about."

They shared a smile and continued to the dojo where they sat in wait with mild conversation until Tatsuki's mother arrived to pick them up. In the end they had decided to do another review as the awkward moments seemed to have passed but they did however return during their review making them call it an early night where Chizuru's mother picked her up and brought her home after the two mothers had a talk to get to know each other.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

10 Waiting for a message

_*Just message me when you get there and when you get back so I know you're alright.*_

_*Alright, I got here and so far so good._

_I need to thank you again for everything. If it weren't for you I would be a mess right now so thanks, Tatsuki. I never thought things would end up like this, so without you... I don't know what I'd do right now.*_

Tatsuki opened her eyes and looked absentmindedly at her ceiling. It was Sunday night and the day after Yasuko's funeral. There was no word yet from Chizuru to let Tatsuki know what happened and how she was doing. It was still a bit of a touchy subject but not as much as it had been before. The last message from Chizuru had been Friday evening just to say everything was fine.

While Tatsuki was grateful for that she hadn't heard from her since and she was beginning to worry. The previous morning she had woken up thinking about her more then she ever thought she would and with more then just concern. It had dawned on her then just how much she had begun to care for her and now she was overly grateful that she had just ignored Chizuru's feelings instead of straight out rejected her as she slowly started to realize that she wanted a bit more then what they had currently but with a lot less awkwardness between them as it was no longer welcome.

She stretched out on her bed a bit before glancing at her clock to check the time. Chizuru should have already been back by now. She frowned as she reached for her phone to send her a message to see if anything had happened to her. Even if asked she would bluntly deny any feelings towards her but she couldn't deny how concerned she was and even Orihime was beginning to catch on to her feelings but still didn't know who it was as names had yet to be said but it had been confirmed that Yasuko had passed on safely and she was now in Soul Society. This information had been given to Chizuru as well and she had been overjoyed on the news though it still caused her a couple of tears at the thought of her being gone.

Tatsuki sent the email and tossed her phone back on her bedside table before closing her eyes once more to try and get a bit of sleep to put her at a bit of ease. She let out a long sigh as she tried to relax but to no avail as she rolled over restlessly and opened her eyes to check the time once more. Her eyes went from the time to her phone next to her clock. It wasn't long before she rolled over to face the wall in her anger of not having Chizuru's number, whether cell phone or house phone.

Eventually she had managed to drift into a deep dreamless sleep. She only had a few hours rest before she woke up in a bit of a bad mood. A quick beeping signaled her alarm going off so she lazily reached over to shut it off but the beeping continued for another moment before it went off. It slowly began to register in her mind that it wasn't her alarm but her phone.

She groaned as she picked it up and answered it, "Hello?"

There was silence from the other line before she hung up and looked at her phone to try and find the number that called her but then she found it wasn't a phone call but an email. Her eyes widened and lost their tire as she checked it. A slight vain pulsed in her forehead as all it said was, ***Hey***

Her anger raised a little as she replied, ***Do you know what time it is right now?***

It wasn't too long before there was a reply, ***Yeah, what's your point?***

Tatsuki groaned as she replied to it, ***I was sleeping ('-.-)***

It was a bit longer this time before there was a response ***Do you want to go back to sleep then?***

There's was bit of a pause before Tatsuki responds,***Nah, its fine***

This time it was almost immediate, ***Can we talk?***

Tatsuki's anger rose a little more,** *Isn't that what we're doing now?***

Again there was a bit of a pause, ***I meant more in person***

Tatsuki yawned in her tire before sending a reply, ***Can it wait until tomorrow?***

There's a bit of a pause before Chizuru responds** *I've already snuck out of my house***

Tatsuki sighed figuring it would be easier to just cave as she was still really concerned about her, ***Where are you?... I'll go meet you there***

***I'm at the river below the bridge, where you found me a couple weeks ago* **Tatsuki sat straight up in fear before Chizuru messaged her again,***I wasn't planning on doing anything I just went out for a walk and ended up by the river so I went there since it was where you really began to feel like my friend. I thought it might help but it didn't***

Tatsuki fell back onto her bed with a relieved sigh, ***Don't scare me like that, geez. I'll be there as soon as I can so don't go anywhere***

Tatsuki got out of bed, now fully awake, and crossed her room to her closet to get dressed. When she finished she glanced out her window as she debated bringing a sweater. She shrugged figuring she might as well and quickly pulled one on as she left her room. The trip downstairs was made as quietly as possible but she stopped at the kitchen and glanced in for a moment as she recalled the last time she was sneaking around her house at this hour of the night. She had been served soup by a ghost.

A small smile formed on her face at the memory only for it to vanish as she realized that this is what must be bugging Chizuru right now since she had just seen her cousin lying in a coffin the day before. Her heart sank as she hurried for the door to get her shoes on. It wasn't long before she was closing the door quietly and locking it before running down the street towards the river, once more recalling memories of Yasuko as doing this had led to her being served soup by a ghost.

She reached the river and went down the hill at a bit of a slower pace and found Chizuru almost immediately. Once more she was standing by the water and looking in it. Tatsuki stood there for a moment to calm her breathing before walking over and placing a hand on Chizuru's shoulder in an attempt at comforting her. Chizuru looked over and was met with a warm smile.

She returned it willingly, "Thanks for coming."

"No problem." Tatsuki said. "What's wrong?"

"I just can't stop thinking about it, the funeral, no matter how hard I try." Chizuru said. "I thought I'd be able to handle it but with everyone there talking about her it just brought back the fact that I'll never see her again. I know that she's moved on and she's in a better place but still it hurts to face the reality of it even if I've come to terms with it."

"It's always going to be hard to face these things even if you know everything you need to know about the spiritual world." Tatsuki said. "I'm even having a bit of a hard time with this. I know I hardly knew her and we only spent a few days together but that was enough for it to be difficult but with what I know about that stuff I know that everything worked out and that she's fine and that we'll be fine. Even if it takes some time everything works out in the end."

"Do you always know what to say?" Chizuru asked. "Or is someone telling you what to say again?"

"No one has to tell me what to say when it comes to you." Tatsuki said warmly. "I can work that out myself."

Chizuru smiled and fell silent as her gaze went back over the water. After awhile she spoke again, "I did what you wanted me to when I was there. I'm sure she'd think it was funny that you were using me to talk to her."

"Yeah, she would have laughed." Tatsuki said with a smile as she allowed her hand to fall away from Chizuru's shoulder. "Thanks for saying something for me."

"Anytime you need me to do anything just let me know." Chizuru said as they met eyes once more. "You can't be the only one giving in this friendship."

Tatsuki's smile faded a little at the word 'friendship' as she knew she no longer wanted that but had no idea how to even voice it. She had never been in this situation and had never let anyone finish their own confession so she had no idea what to even say so she would have to subtly encourage Chizuru to do it for her. The thought of doing it that way made her feel like she was a coward but she didn't want to make a fool out of herself and she figured that Chizuru had done it before anyways.

"You know, you never messaged me when you got back like I asked you to." Tatsuki said with a bit of aggravation.

"I know and I'm sorry but I completely forgot my charger and my phone died before I realized it because I was stuck with my family as soon as I got there." Chizuru said guiltily. "I would have used another phone to call you but I still don't have your number so I couldn't."

Tatsuki looked at her almost shocked at the sound of the sob in her throat. She immediately took Chizuru in her arms to try and banish it. Chizuru shed a couple of tears in her arms but no more then that as the firm embrace took away her pain. The two held each other for awhile before Tatsuki let go out of slight awkwardness but she did it fearfully as she feared what she would see in Chizuru's eyes but what she did find calmed her fear and made her smile; love.

A couple of days ago that look would have led to an awkward situation, a few days ago it would have been completely ignored, a couple weeks ago it would have gotten her a beating. Now it got her nothing but Tatsuki wanted to give this girl so much more then she probably even could. For now she just smiled warmly and held a strong blush that the dark of the night hid well enough for her.

"Are you feeling any better now?" Tatsuki asked.

"Yeah, I really owe you, Tatsuki." Chizuru replied with a smile.

"You do not." Tatsuki said. "That's not what this is about."

"Oh, and what is it about?" Chizuru asked.

Tatsuki just shrugged and said, "I can tell you that it's not about debts and owing the other or even about long overdue apologies."

Chizuru fell silent once more as Tatsuki glanced at her watch with a bit of a sigh, "It's getting pretty late."

"Time to go home, then?" Chizuru asked with a bit of an upset tone.

"Yeah, you want to spend the night at my place?" Tatsuki asked. "Before you get any ideas, its closer, safer, and this way you won't be getting in when your parents get up for work."

"There's no way I could do that." Chizuru protested immediately. "I don't have anything for school tomorrow and there is no way either of our parents will like it."

"Yeah, that's true but they won't know." Tatsuki said. "Last time I checked, my parents didn't check up on me in the mornings and I doubt your parents do that either. My parents will be gone by the time we leave anyways so you can easily hide out in my room until they're gone."

"It's still a no." Chizuru said.

A slight smirk formed on Tatsuki's face as she said, "I said that about going into your house a couple weeks ago and look where we are now."

Chizuru looked away quickly, "That was completely different."

"I don't see how." Tatsuki said without losing her smirk. "It's not like anything will happen."

"Yeah, of course not." Chizuru said immediately. "I don't like you in that way."

Even thought it was a lie and Tatsuki even knew that it was a little painful to hear and she almost wanted to voice her pain on the matter just like she wanted to take Chizuru in her arms and ask her to stay over once more but she was still nervous about how to go about it. All she knew was that she wanted to hold this girl in her arms and make her feel safe and wanted. Tatsuki wanted to protect her from the negativity that the way she was got her. She wanted to protect her from her mother as well even though their relationship would never be voiced to Chizuru's parents.

"Then why are you so nervous about spending the night?" Tatsuki asked. "It would be safer if you stayed at my place tonight and it would really put my mind at ease."

Chizuru looked over at her knowing she couldn't argue against this now. One thing she didn't want between them was unease, which made every awkward situation torture but she knew Tatsuki was catching on to her feelings but just not saying anything about it. She didn't know why Tatsuki was keeping quiet about it but she was a little grateful that she was able to enjoy their friendship a little while longer but the longer this went on the harder it would be to let go. Their bond would have to end soon.

"I guess I can then." Chizuru said with a sigh. "But only tonight."

"Sure," Tatsuki said with a shrug.

They shared a bit of a smile before they headed back up the hill and down the street in a bit of silence at first but questions circled Chizuru's mind on Tatsuki's actions, "Why do you have to be so persistent about this?"

"Because I worried about you enough this weekend since you never emailed me back." Tatsuki said firmly.

"My phone was dead." Chizuru argued.

"When you got back you could have plugged it into the wall and messaged me." Tatsuki countered. "And I doubt you got back into town this late. I know your parents are pretty important where they work and they would have been back at least a few hours before they normally go to bed."

Chizuru fell silent and looked away without a response or even an attempt. Tatsuki looked over at her with concern before letting out a sigh and continuing on without word as she feared revealing too much of her own emotions. It wasn't the right time for that and she knew it as well as she knew Chizuru's upset mood. Things were getting awkward again and she hated those moments but she had no clue what to do about them so she allowed them figuring that Chizuru was fine with them.

When they got to Tatsuki's house Chizuru was told to stay quiet before she was let inside. The two removed their shoes but Chizuru brought hers with her as they snuck upstairs so that they wouldn't be noticed by Tatsuki's parents in the morning. They got to Tatsuki's room and the light was turned on and Chizuru went to sit down on the bed.

Tatsuki went to her closet to find something for Chizuru to sleep in so they could go to bed right away. She found a few things and tossed it over to her before grabbing what she was in earlier to change into. As she pulled off her shirt she faintly noticed Chizuru's eyes on her but feigned ignorance for the sake of her embarrassment and another damned awkward moment.

When they finished the light went out and they went to bed in an inevitable awkwardness and a gap between them as they were each on the edge of the mattress since it was too late for Tatsuki to get the futon from the hallway closet and they each feared the depth of their feelings for the other and didn't want to risk a thing between them even though one of them knew the feeling was mutual.

They both found sleep eventually after a long silent awkwardness that neither was fond of but nothing could have been done without their feelings being announced and neither wanted to risk it. Tatsuki was too nervous and embarrassed to even bring it up while Chizuru feared getting rejected again. So nothing was said about it and nothing would be said until one of them got over their fear and said it to the other.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.**

11 The next morning

Tatsuki stirred in her sleep as she began to wake up. The first thing that registered to her was the extra body in her bed then the position it was in. Her whole face heated up in a deep blush as she glanced down at Chizuru, who had cuddled right up to her in her sleep. A warm smile formed on Tatsuki's face as she found that Chizuru's hand was next to hers.

Her smile warmed even more as she took Chizuru's hand with her own. Her heart raced as Chizuru cuddled up some more with a slight hum. Tatsuki's smile widened as she wrapped her arm around the other girl and she thought about what this would be like if the two of them were open about their feelings. She no longer wanted to keep it in the dark and had decided to confess her feelings as soon as she figured out the best way to do it.

It wasn't long before her alarm went off and she frantically tried to turn it off without waking Chizuru up. As much as she tried when the alarm was shut off Chizuru sat up quickly with a deep blush, which only deepened as their eyes met. Both were at a complete loss for words as they both tried to say something to put the other at ease. Chizuru was the first to recover and say, "Sorry, I just cuddle when I sleep sometimes. I didn't think it would happen with you so I didn't mention it."

Tatsuki wanted to tell her it was alright but the words escaped her so she only looked away. They fell into another awkward silence as Tatsuki got out of bed and went to her closet to get dressed. Chizuru said nothing more as Tatsuki grabbed her school uniform and left the room without word or even a glance. Chizuru sighed in a bit of defeat as she knew that when Tatsuki came back she would get an earful or even rejected just for how close they were.

Chizuru got out of the bed and went to where she left her clothes so she could leave right after getting rejected. She was just getting her shirt on as Tatsuki walked back into the room. They met eyes as Tatsuki stopped for a moment before going over to her. Chizuru's body stiffened at the look in her eyes as she slowly backed up in a bit of fear. The look in her eye Chizuru knew all to well, it was the look she got before a beating took place. It was this determined anger that she feared seeing in Tatsuki's eyes.

Her back hit the wall and Tatsuki placed her hands by her shoulders so she couldn't get away. There was a moment of silence between them as a slight blush formed on Chizuru's face despite the fear in her eyes. Tatsuki took in a deep breath before saying, "You know those rumors about us hooking up… They sound about right."

Tatsuki didn't let Chizuru respond as she kissed her and allowed her hands to move from the wall to the girl's shoulders. When they separated Chizuru held an even deeper blush but it wasn't long before she kissed Tatsuki and wrapped her hands around the back of her neck. They shared warm smiles and deep blushes when they separated from their kiss and all the fear in Chizuru's eyes vanished.

"Would you want to go out sometime?" Tatsuki asked with a bit of a smirk.

Chizuru burst out laughing and rested her head on Tatsuki's shoulder. Tatsuki smiled warmly as she held her more intimately. After awhile Chizuru calmed down enough to speak, "You did that backwards."

"I told you I wasn't one for romance." Tatsuki said simply. "I don't plan these things out I just do it."

"I noticed," Chizuru said. "You really scared me though, I thought you were upset with me."

Tatsuki moved away from her a little so she would look up at her. They shared a smile and another kiss which lasted longer then their previous ones had. Tatsuki pulled her closer so there was less space between them as they continued. When they separated again they held warm smiles and a deep blush but neither looked away in any form of awkwardness.

"So what do you say?" Tatsuki asked.

Chizuru's smile faded as she became nervous, "What do you mean?"

"I mean do you want to go out?" Tatsuki asked with a smirk. "You never gave me an answer."

"I shouldn't have to." Chizuru said as she closed the gap between them once more. "I thought you were talking about something else."

"I don't plan on going any further then this for awhile." Tatsuki said. "This is my first relationship so I want to take things slow. Besides I'm not ready for that sort of thing."

"Don't worry, it's my first also." Chizuru replied with a smile.

"Well don't I feel special?" Tatsuki asked with a smile. "I though you would have been with at least one other person."

"I was always rejected." Chizuru said.

"They were all idiots." Tatsuki said. "I was too for rejecting you before, but I'm not the same person I was back then."

"You knew about it before?" Chizuru asked as her face paled.

"Yasuko told me about it." Tatsuki said. "But it was after I realized you still had feelings for me."

"You knew about that too?" Chizuru asked nervously.

"Yeah, you were pretty easy to figure out." Tatsuki said with a bit of a smirk. "You're pretty cute when you get all embarrassed and nervous."

A blush filled her face as she buried her face in Tatsuki's shoulder once more. Tatsuki's smile widened as she embraced Chizuru tightly in her arms, "Shall we keep this from your parents?"

"Would you want to even have that conversation with her?" Chizuru asked skeptically. "If she ever finds out about this she'll separate us."

"Then she won't know a thing about it." Tatsuki said. "I didn't really plan on saying anything about this to many people but Orihime already figured out that I like someone so I can't really keep her in the dark about this."

"What about everyone else at school?" Chizuru asked.

"It's not really their business but if they find out about it I'm not going to deny it." Tatsuki said simply. "But with the way your parents are it might be better to try and keep things quiet just in case it gets back to them somehow. I'm not exactly keen on losing you."

"You won't." Chizuru said as she snuggled up to her. "But let's keep it quiet for now."

"Yeah, at least we don't have to worry about the awkward first date though." Tatsuki said with a laugh. "We already had an awkward dinner without much to say."

"Shut up, that was just because I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing you were during your competition." Chizuru argued. "That wasn't even a date."

"No, but it was an awkward dinner." Tatsuki said. "In other words we don't have an awkward first date since we already had a date like scenario filled with awkwardness so we don't have to have one now and we can just enjoy each others company. Unless you don't want to have nights out then we can just have 'study sessions' that aren't so much study."

"I thought you weren't ready for that sort of thing, Tatsuki." Chizuru said with a slight smile.

"I was thinking we watch movies or just spend time with each other." Tatsuki said. "Stop thinking so dirty, nothing like that is going to happen for a long time."

"Then don't imply it." Chizuru said with a laugh.

Tatsuki laughed as well as she let Chizuru go but took her hand and led her back to the bed. They sat down with a bit of an awkward silence that was forgotten the instant Tatsuki leaned over and kissed her once more. Chizuru took it up a notch as she turned to face her properly and wrapped her arm around Tatsuki's front and held her neck to bring her a bit closer.

The was no fight against it as Tatsuki turned her body as well but as she was brought down to the bed she became a bit nervous at where this was heading. They broke the kiss and Chizuru smiled down at her before laying at her side and cuddling up to her with a warm smile. Tatsuki held her in her arms with an equally warm smile as she cuddled up a little as well but didn't show it so much as she wanted to be the stronger one in the relationship.

Both of them remained cuddled up in each others arm with warm smiles for a long time. They each wanted to enjoy this moment as much as they could before going to school where they would act as though there was nothing between them as they had the previous week, though it had been difficult for Chizuru to hold her excitement from her passing mark on the history test. It had earned her a couple odd looks but nothing more then that.

After awhile they shifted knowing that they would have to get up so they could leave for school. Chizuru rose first to claim Tatsuki's lips before trying to sit up but was pulled back for another kiss. Each time Chizuru tried to get up she was refused so she quickly gave up and let Tatsuki win. They continued to make out until their jaws became sore. When they finally stopped they just watched each other with a warm blush and happy smiles that refused to fade from their faces.

They got off the bed and Tatsuki led Chizuru to her closet where she retrieved her spare uniform and handed it to her. Chizuru smiled warmly before she began to change and Tatsuki excused herself from the room. She went down to the kitchen and started to boil water for some tea. By this time her parents had already left for work giving the two the freedom of the house for another half hour before they left for school with a mild detour so Chizuru could get her stuff.

It wasn't long before Chizuru came down to the main floor quietly as she looked around nervously. She found Tatsuki sitting at the kitchen table casually as she played with her phone. Chizuru sat next to her and noticed she was messaging someone. After a moment Tatsuki looked over and smiled, "I was just telling Orihime that we'd have some company this morning."

"Already boasting about this?" Chizuru asked with a smirk.

"Well I'm not ashamed of our relationship." Tatsuki said. "But it's still not really anyone's business."

"So will you deny it if your asked about it?" Chizuru asked.

"If your parents ask then yeah I will and the same for my parents so you can still come over without any problems." Tatsuki said.

"What about people at school?" She asked.

"Are you ready for everyone to know about us?" Tatsuki asked.

"It can stay between us for now." Chizuru said with a smile as she took Tatsuki's hand. "But I don't mind if you talk to Orihime about it."

Tatsuki smiled before leaning over the table to kiss her. When they separated Tatsuki rose from the table to serve the tea for both of them. She brought a cup over for Chizuru where they shared a smile and another kiss before Tatsuki went back to the counter to start breakfast for them, "Is there anything in particular that you want to eat?"

"Nah, anything's fine." Chizuru said warmly.

Tatsuki started a simple meal for them in a bit of silence as Chizuru rose from the table and went over to wrap her arms around the other girl as she cooked. She snuggled up as Tatsuki smiled and wrapped an arm around the others so she could still continue to cook. It wasn't long before Tatsuki turned around to take Chizuru in her arms properly as they shared a warm smile and another kiss.

They didn't get carried away this time as they had before. The two separated enough so Tatsuki could continue with the meal but Chizuru still held her in her arms. She snuggled up as Tatsuki continued to cook but was soon forced off so everything could be prepared properly without a fire being started. Chizuru sat at the table and admired her with a warm smile for so long she hardly noticed when the meal had finished and was placed in front of her.

She snapped out of it with a quick kiss and found the food had been finished. A smile dawned her face as her gaze went back to Tatsuki so she could say, "All this is amazing, Tatsuki."

"It's not much." Tatsuki shrugged. "This is just a simple meal, I'm sure everyone can make it."

"Not just breakfast but everything else as well." Chizuru said. "This whole morning has been amazing."

"Yeah, well." Tatsuki shrugged not really knowing what to say but as she looked at Chizuru the words just came to her, "If it's for you then it will always be amazing."

Chizuru smiled warmly with a blush as Tatsuki reached over to take her hand. They held the others gaze for awhile before starting their breakfast in a silence that was surprisingly welcome. There was no awkwardness between them and there never would be again as long as they're open about their feelings and not hiding them or hiding from them. As long as there was no uncertainty then there were no problems for them and there was only their love but there would never be uncertainty between them because they had stopped running from their emotions and their feelings. They were simply happy now and there was no question about it.

_Moral is, don't run from your feelings and don't be afraid of them because you never know._

_Sometimes you get hurt and sometimes you don't._

_You're not really living if you don't take chances._


End file.
